


The Royal Avatar Book 1: Return of the Avatar

by Kaat30



Series: The Royal Avatar [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Avatar Zuko (Avatar), F/F, F/M, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), M/M, Protective Sokka (Avatar), Protective Zuko (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar)-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2021-04-09
Packaged: 2021-04-26 00:22:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 38,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22351447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaat30/pseuds/Kaat30
Summary: The Airbender avatar died when the fire nation attacked the air temples and in the 100 years the war has been going on the next two avatars both died, not knowing their status.When young Prince Zuko had to fight an Agni Kai with his father, Fire Lord Ozai, he accidentally used air bending to defend himself.  It has been three years since his father locked him in a secret fire nation prison on the south pole.What happens when a brother and a sister discover an Airbender who claims he has to help the avatar bring peace to the world?
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Lu Ten & Zuko (Avatar), Ozai & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Ursa & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: The Royal Avatar [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777180
Comments: 202
Kudos: 1190





	1. Chapter 1 ~ The boy in the iceberg

It's early in the afternoon when a small canoe makes its way through the water, in it are two water tribe kids are on a fishing trip. "It's not getting away from me this time. Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish." The boy, Sokka, said as he holds his spear at the ready to strike the fish that he sees swimming in the water in front of him. Behind him his younger sister is facing the other way, also focusing on catching a fish. She stretches her arm out in the direction of the fish, taking a deep breath as she starts making a wavy motion with her wrist, moving her hand up and down. The water in front of Katara starts to ripple, and a bubble of water rises up from the ocean, in the bubble is the fish she was focusing on.

"Sokka, look!" Katara said happily, wanting her brother at what she's doing. " Sshh! Katara, you're going to scare it away." Sokka replies, never taking his eyes of the fish in front of him. "But, Sokka! I caught one!" Katara says, proud of her waterbending skills. The bubble containing her fish slowly drifts around her to hang over Sokka, Sokka raises his spear to strike the fish he was following. He bursts the bubble of water with the end of his spear, soaking Sokka with water and the fish splashes back into the sea. "Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?" Sokka yells as he clenched his fists. "It's not "magic", it's waterbending! And it's ..." Katara starts to explain but doesn't get the chance to finish. "Yeah, yeah, 'an ancient art unique to our culture', blah, blah, blah. Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself." Sokka responds while wringing the water from his hair, cutting off his sister's explanation.

"You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water!" Katara replies as she crosses her arms. Before Sokka can say anything their canoe caught in a rapid current, they both try not to fall over as their boat makes its way towards some icebergs and a wall of ice. "Watch out!" Katara yells as they approach three large chunks of ice. Katara and Sokka throw themselves from the canoe and onto one of the floes, just in time to see their canoe being crushed by the ice. "Why didn't you do anything about that? Now our canoe is broken and we are stranded here." Katara yelled at her older brother as she got up. "Well, maybe you should've waterbended us away from the ice." Sokka responds as he waves his hands, mockingly imitating waterbending. "So it's my fault?" Katara asks, indignantly. "I knew I should've left you home! Leave it to a girl to screw things up!" Sokka rants, annoyed at his little sister. 

"You are the most sexist, immature, nut brained ... I'm embarrassed to be related to you!" Katara yells in anger, swinging both her hands back forcefully. Unbeknownst she was waterbending a huge wave directly into the towering iceberg behind her, cutting the iceberg in two. The two halves begin to fall away from each other and the siblings look at it in shock, the two halves collapse into the water, a wave larger than any Katara comes toward them and they are thrown to the ice as it pushes their floe backward. "Okay, you've gone from 'weird' to 'freakish', Katara." Sokka exclaims as he gets back up on his feet. "You mean I did that?" Katara asks astonished, as she also gets back up. "Yep. Congratulations." Sokka replies sarcastically, as he nudges her with his elbow.

Several small bubbles appear on the surface of the water directly in front of them and a small spot of water begins to glow with a bright bluish hue, slowly the glow and the bubbles within start to spread. The two siblings scramble back in terror from the edge, just as a large, roughly spherical iceberg breaks the surface of the water. An iceberg rises above the surface, revealing its massive form to be the source of the glow. The crashing waves generated by the iceberg's rising push the floe backward as the berg itself rocks to one side, before coming to rest with its rounded dome exposed above the water. Katara slowly makes her way towards the iceberg in front of her, once she is close enough she sees a human shape within the ice, above the human, there is another shape much bigger. The human figure, perched in lotus, has glowing arrows on its head and hands. Suddenly, the boy opens his eyes, the same brilliant light emanating from them, Sokka and Katara gasp in surprise.

"He's alive! We have to help!" Katara yells, and before Sokka can react, Katara grabs Sokka's club out of its sheath on his back and pulls her hood over her head. Sokka reaches out his hand in an attempt to hold Katara back, but she is already running across the ice. "Katara, get back here! We don't know what that thing is!" Sokka yells as he grabs his spear from the ice and runs after Katara, who is already at the ice's edge. Katara hops across the short distance between her floe and the iceberg on five tiny chunks of ice. Sokka, close behind her, does the same. Reaching the iceberg first, Katara repeatedly strikes the iceberg with Sokka's club. On her fifth strike, the club breaks through the surface and a great gust of wind, which escapes from within the iceberg, throws her and her brother back from the side of the dome. The entire orb of ice destroys itself. A beam of light bursts from the core of the iceberg and rockets into the sky.

Sokka had protectively clutched Katara, but he now releases her as he looks around. The light still encircles the remains of the former mountain of ice, now reduced to a hollowed-out crater. Sokka looks at his sister and they both get to their feet, Katara holding onto her brother. He points his spear at the crater, ready to defend them, though lowers it in shock as a figure emerges slowly from the depression in the iceberg. "Stop!" Sokka yells at the figure as he holds his spear up once again. Now standing atop the crater, the figure looks down at them, and the two siblings stare back in wonder and fear. The siblings notice the figure is nothing more than a young boy, who gives a moan of exhaustion and suddenly faints. Katara gasps and runs forward to catch him before he hits the ground. Katara places the boy gently against the base of the crater, the boy slowly opens his gray eyes. He gasps as he looks the Southern Water Tribe girl, who stares at him, in relief, in her deep blue eyes. 

The boy rises to his feet in one swift motion, surprising the other two. Katara looks at him in awe while Sokka backs away in shock, aiming his spear at him again. "What's going on here?" The boy asks while looking around, meanwhile, Katara scrambles to her feet. "You tell us! How did you get in the ice? And why aren't you frozen?" Sokka yells as he pokes the boy in his side with his spear. "My friend put me there and ..... I'm ... not sure." The boy responds thoughtful, not really sure how to reply. A low, gruff noise suddenly fills the air, coming from within the crater of the iceberg. Quickly, the boy scrambles up the ridge of ice and happily jumps on the head of a large, furry creature that has the same arrow-shaped marking on his forehead as the boy.

"Appa! Are you all right?" The boy exclaimed happily as he hangs down the side of the beast. "Wake up, buddy." The boy says as he notices the creature's eyes are still closed. He opens an eyelid that immediately closes again once it is released. He jumps down to the front of the bison and tries to lift its enormous head. Sokka and Katara slowly get closer as the creature finally starts to react to the boy, opening his mouth and licking him with his giant tongue. "Ha, ha! You're okay!" The boy laughs as he hugs the creature's nose, the creature slowly stands up on his six legs and stretches itself. "What is that thing?" Sokka asks, looking at the six-legged creature in amazement. "This is Appa, my flying bison." The boy responds cheerfully. "Right, and this is Katara, my flying sister." Sokka replies, his voice filled with sarcasm. "So do you guys live around here?" The boy asks as he looks at the siblings, eyes filled with wonder, Katara was about to reply but was stopped by her brother. "Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy bolt of light?! He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy!" Sokka exclaims while Pointing his spear accusingly again at the boy. 

"Oh yeah, I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by that evil look in his eye." Katara says sarcastically as she pushes Sokka's spear away. "The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. You never told us your name." Katara continues, introducing her brother to the boy. "I'm A ... a-a-a-Achoo!" The boy sneezes, creating an air blast that sends him soaring into the air. He lands on the ground, unharmed. "I'm Aang." he finishes, acting as if nothing just happened. "You just sneezed ... and flew ten feet in the air!" Sokka says in disbelieve while pointing at the sky. "Really? It felt higher than that." Aang states, looking up at the sky. "You're an airbender!" Katara gasps in realization. "Sure am!" Aang confirmed proudly. "Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders ... I think I got midnight sun madness. I'm going home to where stuff makes sense." Sokka rambles while walking away, quickly realizing their canoe was destroyed and they are stranded here. 

"Well, if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift." Aang offers, quickly picking up on why Sokka suddenly stopped walking. "We'd love a ride! Thanks!" Katara exclaims, quickly making her way towards the side of the flying bison. "Oh no! I'm not getting on that fluffy monster!" Sokka states, Katara climbing on top of Appa with the help of Aang. "Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home? You know, before you freeze to death?" Katara asks her stubborn brother, sitting down in the saddle on Appa's back. Sokka sighs and bows his head in defeat, climbing on top of Appa and sitting down beside his sister, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Okay, first-time flyers, hold on tight! Appa, yip yip!" Aang informs, he whips the reins and Appa growls in response. He moves his tail up and down and takes a huge jump into the air. He soars through the air for a mere few seconds, then belly-flopping into the water with a splash. The bison begins trudging through the water slowly. Katara crawls to the front of the saddle while Aang tries to get Appa flying, whipping the reins again. "Appa's just a little tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky. You'll see." Aang states, not wanting them to think that Appa can't fly. "So What are you gonna do once you brought us back to our village?" Katara asks, being interested in the airbender's plans, hoping he would stay in their village and help her learn waterbending. "I have to help the avatar break out of this fire nation prison here on the south pole." Aang states as the happy smile disappeared from his face, Katara and Sokka looking at him in disbelieve. 

"The avatar disappeared a hundred years ago, are you telling me the fire nation is holding a really old guy prisoner?" Sokka asks as he moves to the front, sitting down beside his sister. "No, he's sixteen." Aang says and looks at Sokka in confusion. "So the avatar isn't an air nomad, so what is he? Water tribe or earth kingdom?" Katara asks, her voice filled with excitement. "None, he's fire nation." Aan simply states and Sokka looked at him in disbelieve. "Are you kidding me? The avatar is fire nation, they will destroy us all." Sokka rambles with a hint of anger in his voice. "He isn't evil, he wants the war to end. I promised I would help him stop it, it's my destiny." Aang says calmly, trying not to get upset about the way Sokka talks about the avatar. "Ow yeah? And how do you know this? you've been stuck inside that iceberg for probably a hundred years." Sokka exclaims annoyed at the Airbender. "Because I've been in the spirit realm for most of that time and that's where I met him, he came to visit me a lot and we became friends, best friends." Aang states, a smile appeared on his face when he thought of his friend. "So, what's his name?" Katara asks him with a kind smile on her face.

"Avatar Zuko"


	2. Chapter 2 ~ Prison break

It has been days since Zuko last saw Aang in the spirit world, this never happened before. The Airbender was always waiting for him when he entered the spirit world, ever since the day he first entered the realm three years ago. Zuko gets up from the lotus position he had been meditating in and makes his way towards the little bed in his prison cell, sitting down on it and leaning his back against the wall. "Where are you Aang?" Zuko quietly wonders, missing the only friend he has. He looks at his wrist and focusses on the metal shackles around them, following the long-chain connected to them all the way back to the wall they are attached to. The boy shivers slightly as he pulls his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them, trying to warm himself up since the thin clothes he is wearing don't do much. The Southpole isn't a good place for firebenders and that's exactly why his father, Fire Lord Ozai, put him there, he has to focus all his energy on his inner flame to keep himself warm and therefore can barely focus on trying to escape.

Zuko looks up when the slit at the bottom of the metal door opens up and a tray of food is pushed through, the slit closing immediately when the tray is through. He gets up and slowly walks towards the food, picking up the tray and making his way back to the bed, once he sits down he scans over the food on the tray, a small cup of rice, a small piece of fish and a cup of tea. Zuko smiles a bit when he notices the tea, it reminds him of his uncle Iroh who he hasn't seen since he left for Ba Sing Se, he never returned after Lu Ten died and Ozai took the throne. His uncle would probably hate him now, just like everyone else in his family, not because he's the avatar but because he refused to use his abilities to help his father win this war. Zuko had always known the war was bad but he never truly realized it before his older cousin, Lu Ten, died. The moment he started to hate the war was when he was allowed to attend his first war meeting and they were planning to sacrifice a division of new recruits as bait, so he spoke up and told them it was wrong to betray their own like that. His father got angry and decided an Agni Kai would be his punishment but when he turned to face his opponent it was his father and not the general he spoke against he was facing, he didn't want to fight his father but the man attacked and he moved his hand to protect himself, instead of fire a strong gust of wind left his fist. While he was looking shocked at his fist, his father advanced and burned the left side of his face, mainly his eye, not long after that his father shipped him to the Southpole and that's where he's been for the last three years. 

Zuko was snapped out of his thoughts by commotion from outside his prison cell, his head shoots up and he focusses on the metal door of his cell. Suddenly he hears the sound of a key opening the lock and with a loud creak the door opens, revealing a familiar-looking kid whose eyes light up when he sees him. "Zuko!" The boy exclaims happily and a smile appears on his face, the boy sprints forward and wraps his arms around the shocked firebender. "Aang?" Zuko asks still surprised about the other boy's presence, slowly wrapping his shackled arms around the younger boy. The two friends let go of each other and Aang frowns when he notices the shackles around Zuko's wrists, he quickly walked back towards the door where the key is still in the lock. Aang takes the key out of the lock and on the keychain are multiple keys, the Airbender makes his way back to his friend and starts trying the keys on the lock on the manacles. Finally, a key fit and the first manacle dropped from Zuko's left wrist and soon after the right manacle followed, he rubs his wrists and looks at the smaller boy in disbelieve. "Thank you so much." Zuko whispers as he looks at his wrists which for the first time in three years aren't encased by shackles.

"Aang, buddy we really need to go now." A male voice yelled from the hall outside the prison cell, Zuko looked at Aang in confusion and the boy shot him a sly smile before running out of the prison cell, pulling the firebender with him. While running down the hall Zuko notices a couple of guards knocked out on the floor, once they get outside he sees a water tribe boy help a girl in the saddle of a massive fluffy creature, Aang pulls him towards the creature and the water tribe sits down in the saddle beside the girl. "You must be Appa," Zuko says to the creature while petting the creature's side, then quickly climbing into the saddle while Aang climbs on its head. "Appa, yip yip." Aang exclaims as he whips reins, Appa moves his tail up and down and jumps into the air, immediately taking flight. Zuko looks down and sees the prison getting smaller and smaller, he turns around in the saddle and comes face to face with the boy and girl he saw climbing into the saddle earlier, the girl's face was filled with excitement while the boy looks at him skeptically. "Hello, my name is Katara and this is my brother Sokka" The girl exclaims excitedly as she introduces herself and her brother. "Zuko." The avatar responds, shooting her a kind smile. "Is it true what Aang is telling us? Are you the avatar?" Katara asks as she scootches over to the boy, not noticing how uncomfortable he is by her sudden closeness.

"Katara, stop it, can't you see you're making him feel uncomfortable?" Sokka cuts in before Zuko can reply, also scootching a bit closer but not close enough to make the firebender uncomfortable. "Thank you." Zuko says quietly towards the water tribe boy as the girl also takes a little more distance from him, still looking at him expectantly. "Uhm ..... yes ....... I am the avatar" Zuko slowly unsure if that answer would be enough to satisfy Katara or if she would keep questioning him, her eyes light up when he confirms his status to her. "Really? How did you find out?" Katara continued her questioning and Zuko frowns thinking back to when he found out he was the avatar, his whole life falling to pieces afterward. "That's enough Katara, we just broke the guy out of prison, the last thing he needs is you interrogating him." Sokka states when he notices the frown on Zuko's face, clearly finding out he was the avatar hadn't been a good experience for the boy. "It's okay, I understand after all my people have not been kind to yours. I don't know what they did but I do know it's not good." Zuko responds in a quiet voice, not wanting to upset the girl by not answering her, he doesn't want them not to trust him. 

"Could you tell us how long you've been in that prison?" Sokka asks carefully while paying attention to the avatar's face, not wanting to upset him or force him to tell him something he's not comfortable with. "Three years." Zuko stats, not showing any emotions on his face and Sokka feels his stomach drop, Aang told them Zuko was sixteen which means he was imprisoned when he was thirteen. Katara's face dropped and both siblings stopped questioning him both getting the feeling that maybe it was better to leave it at that and it was better to drop the conversation, after a while of sitting there Zuko gets up and makes his way to the front of the saddle, sitting down near Aang. "So, what's your plan? where are we going?" Zuko asks as he looks at the Airbender, who sits on the bison's head with the reins in his hands. "First we'll go to the southern water tribe to drop off Sokka and Katara, I've met some really nice people there so I hope they'll give us some supplies for our trip and then we'll head to the northern water tribe so you can learn water bending." Aang explains, looking back to face Zuko with a kind smile on his face. "You know I have to learn airbending before I start waterbending right?" Zuko tells his friend, giving Aang a little smirk. "I know but I have been teaching you a lot of katas in the spirit world and even though you haven't done them with airbending because you can't bend in the spirit world, I am confident I will have thought you all there is to know before we reach the north pole." Aang exclaims as he turns around on Appa's head to face Zuko completely, and with Sokka and Katara lost in their own conversation none of them notice the fire nation ship they flew over.

That ship belonged to general Iroh, who has been traveling the world in the hope to find the avatar or his nephew. When he finally decided to return home 2 years ago he was shocked at what he found, he knew his father died and that his brother had become Fire Lord, sure but he didn't expect the other events that had happened. When he arrived at the palace he hoped to see his nephew but he couldn't find the boy anywhere, so he went to his brother who informed him that Ursa, his sister in law, disappeared the night their father died. Iroh was shocked by the revelation and the fact that she could be responsible for his father's death, but the biggest shock came when Ozai informed him about Zuko's disrespect in the war room and his refusal to fight an Agni Kai. Fire Lord Ozai had explained to him that after his shameful performance Zuko had been banished and told he could only return and have his honor back if he returned with the avatar as his captive. Iroh left the fire nation quickly after that in search of his nephew, wanting to help the boy end his quest and return home but he has been at sea for two years now and never has even found a trace of Zuko nor the avatar. 

"General Iroh we just spotted some kind of flying creature." A soldier states as he enters the general's room, Iroh motions for the soldier to lead the way and follows the man when he does so. "There it is, general." The soldier states while pointing at the sky, Iroh looks at the sky and his eyes widen when he recognizes the creature as a flying bison. "tell the captain to follow that creature." Iroh commands and the soldier leaves immediately, following the general's order. there hasn't been a sighting of a flying bison ever since the avatar disappeared a hundred years ago, the avatar had to be on that bison and if he couldn't find his nephew the least he can do is capture the avatar for him so he can help him to return home and restore his honor. Iroh makes his way below deck and enters a room he has kept aside for his nephew, it is furnished with some of the boy's stuff from his bedroom back n the palace, he also has a chest filled with his nephew's clothes that he took from his bedroom back home. Iroh walks in and closes the door after him, he looks around and his eyes land on the wall he saw his nephew's dual broadswords, he always wondered why Zuko left them behind. 

"Soon." Iroh told himself before he left the room, soon he would see his nephew again. Only he didn't realize how soon that would be as their ship got closer and closer to the southern water tribe village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for the people wondering, Ozai never told anyone about Zuko being the avatar. Only the people that were in the room to witness the Agni Kai know and they've been sworn to secrecy. Ozai explained Zuko's absence by saying he was banished and couldn't return unless he brought the avatar as his captive.


	3. Chapter 3 ~ The Fire Nation arrives

"Finally, we're home." Sokka exclaimed when a tiny water tribe village came into view it was barely visible in the dark, they had been flying for the past couple of hours and ever since the uncomfortable conversation that Katara and Sokka had with Zuko there was an awkward silence in the air beside for the small talk between Aang and Zuko. Aang steers Appa towards the village and carefully lands near a hut at the side of the village, petting the top of the bison's head to tell him he did a good job. Aang jumped off of Appa's head and landed gracefully in the snow, Zuko following after him while Katara and Sokka carefully climbed down from the saddle and slowly a small crowd started to form around the four of them, most of the people shooting distrusting looks at Zuko. "Sokka, Katara, what did you do?" Kanna, the tribe eldest and grandmother of Sokka and Katara, asked while giving her grandchildren a disapproving look. "Well remember when we found Aang four days ago?" Sokka asked and a couple of people nodded in response while the other villagers just stared at them. "Aang told us he was friends with the avatar and that he needed to help the avatar escape a fire nation prison here on the south pole." Katara exclaimed with excitement in her voice, still happy there are two other benders now who can help her with her waterbending.

"You took my grandchildren to a fire nation prison?" Kanna asks Aang in disbelieve, anger clear in her voice. "Not on purpose, they hid in Appa's saddle and didn't make themselves known until we were halfway there." Aang explained to the water tribe woman, looking back at Sokka and Katara to help him out. "That's right Gran-Gran, we did." Sokka confirms, not meeting his grandmother's eyes. "But Gran-Gran, we helped Aang with breaking out the avatar. Zuko is our only hope for ending this war." Katara explained while pointing at the firebender who was awkwardly stood behind them, not sure what to do with himself since he's not sure what's going on. "He's fire nation, Katara." Another woman exclaimed while looking at Zuko, the boy feeling uncomfortable with all the eyes on him. "Do you really think that if I wanted to help the fire nation to win this war I would have been locked in there?" Zuko snapped when the villagers, except for Sokka and Katara, looked at him with hate hidden in their eyes, just because he's from the fire nation doesn't mean he's evil. "Look we were just hoping to get some supplies for our trip to the northern water tribe and then we'll leave, we just stopped here to drop of Sokka and Katara." Aang cut in, trying to take the attention away from Zuko, who was clearly uncomfortable with it.

"Fine, we will gather some supplies for you and have them ready for you in the morning, but until then the firebender can't stay in the village." Kanna decided, Katara looked at her disappointed because Zuko did nothing wrong. "You can't just send him away, he'll freeze out there." Sokka stated before his sister could, looking at his grandmother in disbelieve. "Don't worry Sokka, I'll take Appa he will keep me warm." Zuko stated, not wanting the water tribe boy to get in more trouble then he already was. "I'll come with you." Aang stated while looking at his best friend, not wanting to let him sleep in the cold alone. "No Aang, you'll stay here and wait for the supplies. I can use my inner flame to stay warm, don't worry about me." Zuko explained as he put his hand on Aang's shoulder. "Alright, Zuko, if you say so. I'll see you tomorrow then." Aang responds, disappointment clear in his voice he didn't want to leave his friend, he just found him. "See you tomorrow." Zuko replies as he turns around and walks towards Appa, taking the Bison's reins in his hand and leading him with him as they made their way away from the village. 

"I can't believe you sent him away." Katara told her grandmother and storms away from the crowd of people, not looking back as she made her way home. "It's getting late, let's all go to bed so Aang and the avatar can leave in the morning." Kanna commanded and slowly the crowd disappears, leaving Sokka and Aang to follow Kanna towards the same hut Katara had disappeared in

The following morning the village was awake early, everybody in the village was doing their job while some of the villagers were gathering supplies for Aang and Zuko, Sokka was with a group of small water tribe boys who he was trying to teach how to fight and Katara and Aang were still inside as Aang listened to Katara ramble on about how it was not fair her Gran-Gran was sending away the only people who could help her with her bending. "All right, ready our defenses!" Sokka commands, trying to learn the group of small boys how to defend themselves in a fight. "But I gotta ..." One of the boys started and Sokka already knew what the kid was gonna say, this group was hopeless they couldn't even go without a potty break for ten minutes. "And no potty breaks!" Sokka states before the boy could finish his sentence, not wanting to stop his lesson again. "Sokka, what is that?" A different boy asks curiously while pointing at the water, Sokka follows his finger towards the water and catches sight of Fire Nation ship advancing towards their village. Sokka runs to warn the village and when he's done that he gets ready for battle, hoping that whoever's on that ship doesn't know about Aang or Zuko.

Away from the village, Zuko was laying on Appa's head while looking at the sky, Appa who was laying down in the snow lets out a grunt. "Yeah, I miss Aang too." Zuko states as a reply to Appa as if he knew what the bison meant, slowly sitting up and petting Appa on his head, Zuko had always been an animal lover. Zuko looked over at the village and wondered what Aang was doing down there, having left the village last night he and Appa had walked for a while before settling down on a hill where he could still oversee the water tribe village who don't want anything to do with him. "Don't worry, I'm sure Aang is doing fine." Zuko says after Appa lets out another grunt, Aang was right, Appa is great company, Zuko things as he looks down at the head of the bison he was sitting on. Appa starts grunting and Zuko looks up because Appa hasn't grunted this much in the time is spend with him, something must be wrong and that's when he sees it, a fire nation ship is almost docking at the water tribe village. "The village! Appa, wait here." Zuko yells as he slides off the bison's head onto the ground, Appa grunts in reply and Zuko starts running towards the village.

Sokka stand on the watchtower as the ship comes closer and closer, all villagers have gathered a little bit away from the wall, everyone was there except for Aang whom they told to hide in one of the tents. "Sokka, get out of the way!" Katara yells as she sees the ship is about to penetrate the snow wall, scared for her brother's safety. Sokka doesn't move as the bow of the ship starts plowing through the snow, Sokka raises his club in defense, ready to strike. Before he can make his move, however, the bow crumbles a large portion of the wall into snowy ruins. The snow slides downward, pushing Sokka several feet back before he lands to a halt. With a loud hiss of steam, the ship has come to a halt as well. The villagers who ducked away when the ship crushed their wall slowly gathered around again and gasps when she catches sight of the bow of the ship opening and creaking forward in a burst of steam, forming a walkway. Sokka backs up and falls to the ground once the bow hits the ground with a loud thud, the villagers gather closer around for support and several people even cover their eyes. Katara takes a step back upon noticing the shape of three figures cloaked in the mist, an older man, not as old as Gran-gran but older than her father, emerges from the mist that was made when the bow hit the ground, two guards following close behind him.

Sokka gets in front of his tribe ready to defend them, he lets out a battle cry and charges at the older man with his club to the ready. Sokka doesn't notice even more guards were trudging down the walkway while he is traveling his way upward, when he reaches the man, a guard merely kicks the club to his left and, without ever resting his leg on the ground, kicks Sokka over to his right, sending him into the snow. The man continues on his way to the village, followed by six more men, Katara covers her mouth in shock upon witnessing her brother's quick defeat. The man and his fire nation soldiers stop in front of the villagers and look around, the man who is clearly the leader stopping in front of Katara, who is clutching Kanna. "Where are you hiding him?" The man asks as he surveys the crowd of villagers, who fall completely silent. Without warning, he extends his arm out into the crowd and grabs Kanna, holding her by the hood of her parka. "He'd be about this age, master of all elements?" The man asks while trying to sound nice, he releases Kanna who shudders in fear and embraces Katara, while Katara shoots an angry glare at the man. "I know you're hiding him!" The man states while sounding a lot less nice as he did before, he is still trying to keep his composure. 

Sokka notices his club lying in the snow so he runs over and picks it up, he lets out another battle cry as he charges toward the older man who swiftly turns around just as Sokka approaches him from behind. He ducks under Sokka's wide swing and hurls the warrior forward. Sokka lands on his rear in the snow and is quickly forced to dart from his spot when one of the guards fires a blast at him. He spins to the side and tosses his boomerang at the enemy who barely manages to miss getting hit by the weapon. The guard growls and glares at Sokka in anger at the near hit, he follows the course of the weapon until it vanishes before looking back at Sokka in anger. One of the village boys tosses Sokka a spear. "Show no fear!" The boy yells as Sokka handily catches the weapon and charges at the guard. The guard breaks of pieces of the spear with his fire bending, pulls the remains of the weapon out of Sokka's hands and pokes him thrice in the head with the blunt end. Sokka falls to the ground as the guard snaps the spear in two and tosses the pieces to the ground on both of his sides. Sokka rubs his head in pain, before switching back to face the guard. A sparkle of light shines briefly in the distance and Sokka sees his boomerang spinning into view, unnoticed by the guard. The weapon strikes the guard on the back of his helmet with a loud cling, he is momentarily pushed forward by the unexpected blow. The guard rearranges his helmet and growls at Sokka, the boomerang has plummeted into the ground in front of Sokka's feet. Enraged, The guard readies two fire daggers.

Suddenly Aang charges at them and takes the guard's feet out from underneath him with his glides, tossing him off his feet. The children of the village start to cheer when they see Aang, Aang looks back at the Fire Nation soldiers, where the guard just got back on his feet again. Upon the older man's signal, his men spread out, surrounding Aang while the guard assumes a fighting stance. Aang assuming a fighting stance as well, his staff held firmly in front of him as he is being surrounded by the soldiers. He sweeps the ground side-to-side with his staff, showering the men with snow. He subsequently slams the ground, sending a rush of snow at the older man who braces for the impact. After being sprayed with snow, and heating it up so it would melt off, the older man looks up angrily. "Looking for me?" Aang asks the older man with a grin on his face, Sokka and Katara glance at each other in worry. "You're the Airbender? You're the Avatar?" The older man asks surprised, clearly unaware of the demise of the airbending avatar a hundred years ago. "Yes, I am." Aang states, hoping by telling this man he was the avatar he would protect Zuko. 

"What is he doing?" Katara asked her brother who just shrugged in reply, not really knowing what's going on. Aang resumes his fighting stance when a different guard stepped in front of the older man and did the same. The new guard launches a series of fire blasts at Aang in anger at the Airbender, who was ready to defend himself but before he could react someone jumped in front of him and split the fire so it would fly passed them. The guard throws another fire blast at, who Aang now notices is Zuko, who now redirects the fire away from him and Aang, barely missing the villagers. Zuko looks around quickly and his eyes land on the familiar older man who seems to be leading the attack. "What do you think you're doing?" Zuko asks the man as he approaches him, still not being recognized. "Stop this madness right now, uncle." Zuko stated and everyone, villagers and soldiers alike, looks at him in shock. His uncle slowly approaches him and carefully lifts his hand to pull Zuko's messy hair back, away from the boy's face, and Zuko sees the recognition in his uncle's eyes. "Zuko?" The man asks in awe of his nephew as he let go of the hair, not paying any mind to the scar that is covering a lot of the boy's face, he'll find out more about that later. "Aren't you going to kneel for your prince?" Iroh asks his soldier as he looks around and sees none of his men showing the boy the respect he deserves, all of them immediately fell to their knees while the villagers looked at Zuko in shock and anger.

"I'll ask again uncle, what do you think you're doing?" Zuko asks, repeating his previous question, looking deep into his uncle's eyes. "I'm bringing you home, nephew." Iroh replied as he grabbed Zuko by his shoulders, still trying to take in the way his nephew changed over the years. "I'll go with you, but only if you promise to leave those people alone." Zuko tells his uncle, not wanting anyone to get hurt because of him. "I promise but he will have too, otherwise I will have to use force, my nephew." Iroh stated while pointing at Aang, Zuko's eyes grow wide and he starts shaking his head, he could not let them take Aang. "I will come with you, but only so you leave these people alone." Aang agrees as he looks Zuko in his eyes. Iroh notices his nephew is getting ready to fight so he signals two of his most trusted guards behind Zuko's back, they quickly came in action and they grabbed the prince's hands, restraining them behind his back before the boy could put up a fight. "Bring prince Zuko to his room, make sure he takes a bath and give him new clothes, he is not allowed out of his room without my permission." Iroh ordered the soldiers as his nephew struggled in their hold, he felt sorry for the boy but he knew how opposing Zuko could be when things didn't go his way. 

The soldiers nodded and pulled Zuko onto the walkway, leading their prince onto the ship as he kept yelling at his uncle to leave Aang alone. "Are you ready to go?" Iroh asked the boy who was still looking at the ship where Zuko disappeared in with sad eyes, he just saved Zuko and now his friend was trapped again. Aang swallowed a lump in his throat and nodding at the man, he hands his glider to one of the soldiers while another apprehends him and Katara runs forward as they lead Aang away. "No! Aang, don't do this!" Katara yelled, begging her new friend not to let the fire nation do this, but Aang had because he didn't have it in him to leave Zuko alone, he had to protect his best friend because clearly these people didn't know the prince was the avatar and Aang would keep it that way. "Don't worry, Katara. It'll be okay. Take care of Appa for me until I get back." Aang tells her calmly when he is shoved on the walkway, the rest of the soldiers and general Iroh following him into the ship.

"Head a course for the Fire Nation. We're going home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is an extra-long chapter because it didn't feel right to cut it off halfway. To make things clear Zuko's hair right now is the same as it is in season three of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the reason why will be told later on n the story.


	4. Chapter 4 ~ Escape from the ship

After Zuko had been forced to take a bath and was dressed in new clothes, he had been locked in a bedroom which he noticed was decorated with stuff from his room in the castle. He walked over to a desk where he spotted an image of his family when he was younger and his mom was still there, he looked at the image and he started feeling sad when his eyes locked at his mother, Zuko hadn't seen her in five years, she disappeared in the night and he'd never seen her again. He looks up and he sees the blue spirit mask his mother had given him was displayed on the wall, the mask was from Ursa's favorite play and she had a collection of all the masks but when she saw how much Zuko loved the mask she had given it to him. Zuko smiles at the memory of his mother giving him the mask, he just wishes he could see her again to tell her how much he loved her and that he misses her. He slowly makes his way towards the bed where he sees his dao swords hanging on the wall and underneath them hangs the sheath his cherished weapons belong in, he carefully takes the swords down and inspects them, they look just like he remembered. 'I better put them in the sheath so they will be ready for taking when I find a way out of here.' Zuko thought as he placed the blades against each other and slipping the sheath over it, he places the encased weapons on the bed and makes his way towards the chest on his bedside. 

The chest opened to reveal clothes both and some he recognized from three years ago but those wouldn't fit anymore, he's grown a lot in the past three years. Zuko is glad to have new clothes the last years the only new clothes he would get was a new prison outfit once he'd grown out of the old one, the prison outfit was made of thin material to give him the least warmth possible while the new outfit he was wearing was made from thicker material and made it easy for him to stay warm. He sees a bag also in the chest and decides to stuff it with some of the clothes so he would have more than the outfit he was wearing when he and Aang would get out of here, he hoped Aang was doing fine but couldn't help but feel it was his fault the Airbender was on this ship in the first place. Zuko placed the bag with clothing on the bed beside his swords in a little pile of things he would need when he escaped, not really knowing what to do he sits down on the bed and is surprised at how soft it is, he hadn't slept in a soft bed for years. Zuko takes off his boots and sets them down on the floor, he lays down on the mattress and pulls the sheets over his body. It had been an eventful day for the boy, he was broken out of prison only to be trapped again. He hoped to be able to find a way of this ship tomorrow but if he was gonna do that he would have to be well-rested and slowly Zuko drifts off in what may be the best sleep he has had in years.

"We have to go after that ship, Sokka. Aang saved our tribe, now we have to save him." Katara said as she was facing away from her brother, staring at the sea. It was early in the morning after the fire nation took Aang and Zuko and sleep had been hard to find for the pair of siblings, they got up early that morning to go feed Appa and the flying bison had followed the two of the siblings back to the village once he finished eating. "Katara, I --." Sokka started but was interrupted by his sister, who is not paying him any attention. "Why can't you realize that he's is my chance of becoming a real waterbender? If we don't help him, no one will. We owe him and --." Katara was rambling but was cut off by her brother who she was still facing away from. "Katara! Are you gonna talk all day, or are you comin' with me?" Sokka asks slightly annoyed, as his sister turns to face him he gestures towards Appa who had his saddle fully loaded with supplies. "Sokka!" Katara exclaims happily as she runs towards her brother and hugs him. "Get in, we're going to save your boyfriend." Sokka tells his sister as he gestures to Appa's saddle while making his way towards Appa's head where the reins are. " He's not my --" Katara started saying in an irritated voice while following Sokka, her brother spun around and interrupted her. "Whatever." Sokka said nonchalantly, not really wanting to have his sister rambling on about Aang is not her boyfriend while Sokka only meant it as a small joke.

"What do you two think you're doing?" They here from behind them, both siblings clearly recognizing the voice of their grandmother. The two siblings turn around and look at Kanna while trying to act as innocently as possible, fearing how she will react if she knows they're going after Aang and Zuko. "You'll need these." Kanna says as she smiles kidly while holding up a pair of sleeping bags, the siblings look at her in surprise. "you have a long journey ahead of you. It's been so long since I've had hope, but you brought it back to life, my little waterbender. And you, my brave warrior, be nice to your sister." Kanna says as she hugs each of her grandchildren when she hands them the sleeping bags. "Yeah, okay Gran." Sokka replies when Kanna releases him from her hug and he smiles broadly at her. "Zuko is the Avatar. Even though he is the Fire Lord's son he was imprisoned here for a reason. He's the world's only chance. You both found him and Aang for a reason. Now your destinies are intertwined with theirs." Kanna tells her grandchildren, who look at each other uneasily. They give their grandmother one final hug before walking towards Appa, Katars climbing in his saddle and Sokka onto his head. "Appa, yip yip" Sokka exclaims as he whips the reins, remembering what Aang always says before Appa starts flying, smiling when the flying bison takes off.

Aang has been pacing in his cell trying to come up with a plan to get out of here, he hadn't even been in there a full day and he was already going crazy, his heart broke a little at the realization that Zuko had been locked in a similar cell for three years. Suddenly the door opened and two soldiers enter. "General Iroh wants to speak with you." One of the soldiers said while the other roughly pulled Aang's hands behind his back and tied them in place with a piece of rope. 'This is my chance' Aang thinks as the soldiers led him out of the cell, all he had to do now was find Zuko and get off this ship. "So, I guess you've never fought an Airbender before. I bet I could take you both with my hands tied behind my back." Aang states slyly as he followed the soldier through the corridor as the other soldier is walking behind him. Both soldiers are unamused as neither of them replies, they stop as the soldier in front of them opens a door and they enter the corridor which Aang remembered leads to the deck from the day before when they brought him to his cell. The soldier behind him turns to close and lock the door and the Airbender spins to face him, Aang inhales deeply and unleashes a powerful breath, stunning both of the soldiers. The firebender before him slams into the door subsequently knocked out from the impact. Aang is sent several feet back, slamming into the soldier behind him. They both flyback even further, where they crash into the stairs. The soldier behind Aang is also knocked out by the impact, while Aang propels himself onto the deck and kicks open a door using airbending. He quickly runs down the hallway, panting heavily. He tosses a frightened look over his shoulder, afraid that he is being followed. 

Aang enters the first room that isn't locked and it's some sort of office, luckily it's empty, Aang quickly looks around and spots his glider standing against the wall so he takes it in his hands which are still tied behind his back and starts running again while looking for Zuko. "Zuko?!" Aang yells hoping Zuko will hear him so they can get out as fast as possible. "Aang?" He here's Zuko's voice yelling back from the end of the corridor so Aang runs towards the voice. He stops in his tracks when he rounds a corner and is met by a soldier standing in the middle of the corridor, the soldier fires a blast at Aang, who drops his glider and leaps forward. Aang somersaults over the soldier and uses the sharp tip of his helmet to cut his bindings, thus freeing him. The soldier falls over from the impact and Aang proceeds down the hall. The young Airbender races through the interior, opening two doors leading to various compartments of the ship. Finally, he sees it a metal door that is locked by a metal beam that's keeping the door from being pulled open from the inside, Aang runs over and pulls the metal beam out of its hinges. Aang pulls open the door and is met with Zuko who was standing in a fighting stance, ready to attack if a soldier entered. Aang runs forward and pulls his friend into a hug, happy the boy is unharmed. "Come on, we have to get out of here" Zuko states when Aang lets him go, he walks towards the bed and slings the sheath of his dao sword over his torso sideways and hangs a bag on his shoulders.

Zuko and Aang make their way back through the corridor and when they ran into the soldier Aang encountered before Zuko swiftly took him out and Aang picked up his glider which he had dropped before, they quickly made their way towards the deck where a small group of soldiers had gathered. Zuko and Aang both fall into a fighting stance ready to fight their way of this ship, both were surprised when they heard a familiar grunt and when they look up they see a familiar flying bison. "Appa!" Aang exclaims happily while Zuko deflected a fire blast thrown his way, Aang spins around and manages to deflect a firebending attack by spinning his glider around like a baton. Appa lands with Sokka and Katara in his saddle on the deck as Aang and Zuko run towards them, the few soldiers they hadn't defeated following after them. "Zuko." General Iroh yelled as he made his way onto the deck and sees his nephew follow the avatar towards his flying bison. Zuko looks back at his uncle as Aang blows away the last couple of soldiers with a gust of wind, sending them over the side of the wind into the water. "Quick get in." Sokka says as they reach Appa while leaning down from the saddle, quickly catching Aang's hand and pulling him up. "Zuko please don't go, come back home with me" Iroh pleads as he approaches them, not wanting his nephew to leave, he hadn't even had a proper talk with the boy yet. "I'm sorry uncle but that place is not my home, it hasn't been for a long time." Zuko replies and starts to climb up to the saddle, grabbing Sokka's hand when it was in reach. "I command you to come of that flying bison right now and return to your room." Iroh states using a harsh tone he never used on his nephew, even though Zuko is crown prince Iroh s still his superior and therefore the boy should listen to him.

Aang saw the distress on Zuko's face when Sokka pulled him in the saddle, he knew how much Zuko cared for his uncle and how he wanted the man to be proud of him so before the avatar could do something stupid he got to Appa's head and whipped the reins. "Appa, yip yip." Aang says and the bison takes of just as Iroh reaches them and Zuko looks back at the man in sorrow. "Shoot them down!" Iroh yells at the soldiers who just gotten back up on their feet, two of them do a synchronized firebending move and fire a powerful blast at the bison. Sokka and Katara stare at the incoming attack in horror, while Aang leaps onto the saddle. He opens the small tail wing of his staff and swings his glider around, using a powerful swipe of air to redirect the fireball into a nearby cliffside. The impact causes an avalanche of snow and ice to begin falling, the front of the ship becomes buried in a mass of snow and ice. "So where are we going?" Sokka asked after they've been flying for a while. "Zuko and I talked about when we broke him out of prison, we're heading to the northern water tribe. Zuko has to first learn airbending, than waterbending and finally earthbending, it's a long journey so I'll teach him airbending as we travel and he will be ready to learn waterbending when we arrive." Aang explains from Appa's head, turning to face his friends. "Than me and Zuko can learn waterbending together, and Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way." Katara cheered happily as she looks at the two boys in the saddle. "I'd like that. I'd really like that, none offense." Sokka said, aiming the last part at Zuko. "none taken." The firebender responds, giving Sokka a warm smile. "All right, but before Zuko learns waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to." Aang states as He uses airbending to situate himself onto the saddle and unrolls the scroll, revealing a map of the World. "Here, here and here." While stating this, Aang points to three locations, two in the Earth Kingdom, one in Air Nomad territory. "What's there?" Katara asks curiously as she points at one of the locations. "Here, we'll ride the hopping llamas, then way over here, we'll surf on the backs of giant koi fish, then back over here, we'll ride the hog monkeys, they don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun!"Aang explains while pointing at each location, and Zuko smiled at his enthusiastic friend. "And when did you have time to think this out?" Sokka asks wondering when Aang came up with this plan. "Well me and Zuko hadn't had fun in such a long time so I thought it would be great to do these things to make our trip more fun, I've been planning it ever since you found me." Aang explains as he gives Zuko a large smile.

"Thanks, buddy."


	5. Chapter 5 ~ Kyoshi Island

"I want the repairs made as quickly as possible. I don't want to stay too long and risk losing his trail." General Iroh states to his crew once they reached the level of the walkway, about to step off their ship. "You mean the Avatar?" One of the younger soldiers asks Iroh, not sure if the General was talking about losing the avatar or losing the prince. "Don't mention his name on these docks! Once word gets out that he's alive, every firebender will be out looking for him, and I don't want anyone getting in the way of bringing Prince Zuko home!" Iroh commands in a hushed voice, not wanting anyone on the docks to hear him. "Then I guess we could help each other General Iroh." A voice states from behind the older man who turns around and comes face to face with a man he hoped he wouldn't see there. " Captain Zhao." Iroh greets with dislike in his voice, the other man smirked at him. "It's admiral now." Zhao states clearly proud of his status, Iroh looked at him with surprise. 

"I never knew you made commander before or did you skip that rank and went straight for admiral?" Iroh asked Zhao with an irritated voice. "I heard you talking about bringing Prince Zuko home. I actually was promoted by Fire Lord Ozai this morning, I received a message from him telling me he put me in charge of finding the young prince and returning him home." Admiral Zhao explained and Iroh looked at him in surprise. "But Prince Zuko is banished and can't return without the avatar." General Iroh states and is met with a chuckle by Zhao as if he knew something Iroh didn't. "The Fire Lord changed his mind, he told me to return the prince as soon as possible." Admiral Zhao explained with a smirk on his face. "What if Prince Zuko doesn't want to come with you?" Iroh asked, thinking back to how eager his nephew had been to get off his ship. "I've been told to do whatever I need to do to bring him back so if the prince doesn't wish to come willingly I have orders to capture him. Now if you'll excuse me, my ship is ready so I have to leave" Zhao explained and Iroh felt scared knowing this man planned on hunting him down. "Good luck, Admiral Zhao." Iroh stated with gritted teeth as the admiral brushed past him.

"You have no idea where you're going, do you?" Sokka asks Aang as he is looking on the map, seriously questioning Aang's navigation skills. After they visited the southern airtemple a couple of days ago the Airbender decided he wanted to go ride an elephant koi. Not much had happened at the southern airtemple, Zuko managed to keep Aang from seeing all the dead bodies and they found a winged lemur which Aang named Momo. "Well ... I know it's near water." Aang stated happily as he looked at the large body of water Appa was flying over. "I guess we're getting close then." Sokka replies sarcastically as he turns back to face Zuko who has a small smile on his face ever since Momo had wrapped himself around the avatar's neck. "Aren't you even a bit worried about where we're going? I mean you should be set on getting to the northern water tribe to learn waterbending." Sokka tells the royal firebender who has been in a surprisingly good mood this day. "I trust Aang and I have to master airbending before I even start learning waterbending, besides Aang has been frozen in an iceberg for the past hundred years so I think he deserves a little fun." Zuko replies as he scratches Momo behind his ear. "So how far are you with your airbending?" Sokka asks, genuinely interested in Zuko's answer. "Aang taught me most katas in the spirit world but since there is no bending there I haven't really done much airbending. We have practiced a bit when we last stopped and it was going really well, Aang says it seems airbending comes naturally for me." Zuko explains and notices how Sokka is staring as him, he is happy the watetribe boy is so interested. 

"Look!" Aang yells excitedly as he points at a giant fish that jumped out of the water near a beach. Before Katara, Sokka or Zuko could say anything Aang was landing Appa on the beach and jumped off the flying bison, quickly taking off his clothes until he's only in his underwear. Aang runs up to the water and dives in, as soon as he submerges, he jumps out again. "Cold!" Aang screams, Sokka looks at his sister and makes a circular motion with his left hand around near his left temple, signaling to her that he thinks Aang is crazy. Aang is swimming toward the deep waters of the bay where the koi fish are. He dives under and immediately appears again, now holding on to the back fin of one of these giant animals as it jumps out of the water before diving again. Katara smiles broadly and impressed at the sight of Aang riding the koi fish while Sokka stares at the scene with an uninterested look upon his face and his arms crossed and Zuko looks at his friend with a fond smile on his face. After Aang had been riding the elephant koi for a while he made his way back to shore where the others had watched him. "Well, that was fun. Time to hit the road." Sokka states as he gets up from the rock he was sitting on. Suddenly a group of female warriors clad in green kimonos descend from the treetops ambushing them, the women quickly encircle the four friends. one of them pulls Sokka back and knocks him over, Katara is pulled by her arm and as she leans in to maintain her balance, someone pulls her parka over her head and pulls her down. Aang is distracted by Katara's struggles, giving the opportunity to another female warrior to grab him by his collar. Momo flies up screeching from Zuko's shoulder, only to be quickly caught in a bag, only his head still protruding.

Zuko had been able to knock off some blows but with his friends overpowered all warriors turned to face him and he was quickly overpowered as well as three of the female warriors force him to the ground. All four of them were quickly bound and blindfolded and then thrown to the ground, surrounded by the female warriors. "Or, we could stay awhile." Sokka states sarcastically. They were forced up and lead up a path that leads towards a small village, once they reached the village they were tied to a pole at the town square. "You four have some explaining to do." an old man states, looking at the four friends who were tied to the pole that held the statue of Avatar Kyoshi. "Show yourselves, cowards!" Sokka yells, angry they didn't take off their blindfolds. A gloved hand, the forearm dressed in a leather band with a gold insignia on top of it, removes the blindfold. Five girls in green kimonos and wearing white and red face paint are standing in front of him. "Who are you? Where are the men who ambushed us?" Sokka asks aggressively, while Zuko and Katara look at him in disbelieve and annoyance. "There were no men. We ambushed you. Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?" The girl who seems to be the leader of the warriors asks. "Wait a second, there's no way that a bunch of girls took us down." Sokka states as he looks at Zuko who is a strong fighter, Sokka was sure he couldn't have been taken down by a girl. "Sokka, Shut up." Zuko yells, clearly annoyed with Sokka's statement. "It's my fault. I'm sorry we came here. I wanted to ride the elephant koi." Aang rants sorrowfully, not wanting his friends to get hurt because of him. "How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies? One of you clearly is Fire Nation and there was a ship of them here yesterday stating they were looking for their prince and to send for them if we saw him. Kyoshi stayed out of the war so far. And we intend to keep it that way!" The older man states, not noticing the discomfort in the four when he mentions the fire nation prince. 

"This island is named for Kyoshi? Zuko knows Kyoshi!" Aang says happily as he looks at his best friend. "Ha! How could you possibly know her? Avatar Kyoshi was born here four hundred years ago. She's been dead for centuries." The man asks Zuko, guessing from Aang's look at the boy he was talking about. "I know her because I'm the Avatar." Zuko states calmly and the warriors and the older man look at him in shock. "That's impossible! The last Avatar was an Airbender who disappeared a hundred years ago." The leader of the warriors says not convinced by Zuko's statement, shaking her fist to emphasize her words. "She died a hundred years ago and the cycle continued but the other avatars before me didn't know who they were before they died." Zuko explains, understanding the confusion. "Throw the impostor to Unagi!" The man commands, the warriors immediately retract their metal fans from out of their belts and slid them open. Ready to counter any sudden attack, they threateningly start to move forward and surround the bound friends. "Zuko ... do some airbending." Katara says nervously as she leans forward in the ropes, glancing to her right where Zuko is bound to the pole. Zuko bends over before pushing himself off the ground. He leaves a large dust cloud as he shoots in the air, stretching out his ropes, using one of the outstretched fans of the statue to snap them in half. Now completely free of his bonds, he tumbles elegantly over the statue.

"Wow! Did you see that? Airbender!" Was heard in the crowd that had gathered around as Zuko lands gently on the ground in front of the surprised crowd, his robes still fluttering in the air, Zuko holds up his hand and holds a flame to prove he can indeed bend more than one element. "It's true ... you are the Avatar!" The old man said in awe as Zuko made the flame disappear and drop his hand. The warriors quickly released Sokka, Katara, and Aang and they were given a place to spend the night.

The following day Sokka had been angry all day, still not believing he was defeated by a bunch of girls, it wasn't even fair, they attacked from behind. "I can't believe I got beat up by a bunch of girls." Sokka grumbles to Zuko as they walk past a house, Sokka looks through the window and sees the Kyoshi warriors training. "Just because their girls doesn't mean they can't fight Sokka. In the Fire Nation people are judged on their skills and strengths, there are just as many female soldiers as there are male ones." Zuko explains as he notices Sokka staring at the warriors training. "You had it easy, there were plenty of people around to teach you firebending but all men left my village before I was old enough to learn how to fight." Sokka states as he moves his eyes from the warriors to Zuko. "Wait so you never had anyone training you?" Zuko asks in disbelieve and now it makes sense to him why Sokka had been so upset about being beaten by girls. "I could teach you if you want to." Zuko offers, knowing how it is to feel weak and useless. "I'm not a bender Zuko, there is nothing you can teach me." Sokka responds sadly, trying to give Zuko a reassuring smile. "I'm not talking about bending Sokka, I can learn you how to fight. I'm not just a bender I am also a master swordsman." Zuko explains as he unsheathes his duo swords and shows them to Sokka. "Wow." Sokka says as he looks at the swords in awe. "But why? doesn't the Fire Nation see it as a weakness for a bender to use a normal weapon?" Sokka asks Zuko in confusion. "It is. As a kid, I wasn't a good firebender and I was always being criticized about it and well it made me feel like a disappointment. My mother decided that I needed my confidence back so she made me do sword practice with a master in secret, father never knew about it." Zuko explained as he let Zuko take the swords out of his hands to inspect them. "So only your mother knew about it? How were you not good at fire bending? You mentioned you are a master firebender right?" Sokka asks, eager to learn more about Zuko. "My mother and my uncle knew, I was really bad because my sister was a prodigy and we had to learn together so it always went to fast for me. Shortly after my cousin died my father got a request from a firebender to teach me, he said he could help me become a master firebender and since my father had given up on me and thought I was hopeless he let the firebender come. His name was master Jeong Jeong, he taught me everything I know about firebending." Zuko explains and Sokka listens to every word. "I would be happy to have you as my teacher Zuko." Sokka decided, Zuko wasn't as bad as he thought in fact Zuko was great.

Admiral Zhao was sat at a table, a servant is serving cooked fish as he whispers something in Zhao's ear. The Admiral smirks and quickly makes his way to the captain of his ship with glee. 

"Set course to Kyoshi island"


	6. Chapter 6 ~ The forty-first division

"Hey Aang, do you know where Sokka is? I haven't seen him in a while, come to think of it I haven't seen Zuko either." Katara asks as she approaches the Airbender with a basket of fruit in her hands, she has taken it upon herself to get enough food for their journey. "Sokka and Zuko left for the woods, he was all excited because Zuko was gonna teach him how to fight, they have been gone for a few hours." Aang explains as he turns to face Katara and gives her a bright smile, moving forward to take the basket out of her hands, to carry it for her. "I don't know if you or Zuko noticed but Sokka isn't a bender, Aang." Katara states as she let Aang take the basket out of her hands and the boy chuckles at her response. "We know Katara. Zuko is teaching him sword fighting, he's a master swordsman." Aang laughs as the two of them make their way towards Appa so they can store the fruit there for the journey. "I never heard of a bender needing actual weapons before." Katara states, surprised by the new information. "Zuko doesn't actually need them but he enjoys practicing with them, it calms him down. Also if he ever would get into a fight with a none bender they would come in handy, Zuko doesn't think it's fair to use bending against a none-bender in a fight." Aang explains with a small smile on his face, he loves how caring his best friend is.

"Firebenders have landed on our shores! Girls come quickly!" The village elder Oyaji yelled, the last part directed at the Kyoshi warriors. Aang and Katara look at each other in fear and quickly follow Suki and the other warriors. At the base of the Kyoshi statue were almost twenty soldiers on komodo rhinos, the one at the front was clearly their leader. "Come out, Zuko! You can't hide from me forever!" The leader yelled and then he turned to face Aang, Katara and the Kyoshi warriors. "You guys round them up, and you guys find him." He ordered and half of the soldiers approached them while the other half scattered in search of Zuko, Aang hoped he would be okay.

"We have been training for hours, we should head back to the village before Aang or Katara get worried. You did great Sokka, it seems you are a natural with swords." Zuko states as he sheathes his swords again, it was the most fun he has had in years. "Thank you Zuko, you're a great teacher." Sokka states as he gives Zuko a fond smile, he never thought he and the firebender would get along as they do, he really liked spending time with Zuko. They started walking down the path that leads back to the village when they are suddenly pulled behind a bush by force only to come face to face with a fire nation soldier who didn't look older than 24 years old, Zuko and Sokka both took a fighting stance to protect themselves. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to protect you, Prince Zuko." The soldier states as he kneels in front of the young avatar, Sokka shoots Zuko a questioning look. "Please rise. Who are you?" Zuko says, not comfortable with the man kneeling before him. "My name is Lei, I was in the forty-first division ." He explained as he got up and Zuko looked at him in shock, he thought all member of the forty-first division died when they were sent to the earth kingdom. "But how? I thought all of you would have perished when you were sent to war" Zuko states as he is still trying to take it in while Sokka eyes him and Lei in confusion.

"Most of us did but the few that did survive learned about what you've done for us. We've sworn or allegiance to you and but you were nowhere to be found so we scattered in the hope one of us would find you and now we did." Lei explains and Sokka was even more confused at what was going on. "I'll explain later." Zuko told Sokka who nodded at Zuko in understanding. "Why did you pull us behind this bush, couldn't you have met us back at the village?" Zuko asks with a frown on his face, not liking that they were so easily ambushed by Lei. "Zhao is at the village, by now I think he has captured the villager and the other soldiers are searching for you, we're lucky I found you first. We have to get you off the island." Lei explains and Zuko looked at him in horror, Zhao had been there at the Agni Kai. "We can't leave, Aang and Katara are there and these people have been nothing but kind to us. I won't abandon them." Zuko states after he swallowed the lump in his throat and Sokka gives a nod in agreement. "There are five other members of the forty-first division are also on the island, if you attack they will help you." Lei tells them and he looks at Zuko to make the next move. "I have a plan." Sokka states, confidently.

"Get the restraints, I want to have everything ready for when the prince arrives." Zhao tells one of his soldiers. Katara, Aang, the Kyoshi warriors and the rest of the villagers were all gathered at the town square, on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs. "you can't keep Zuko restrained, he'll get out. He will never go with you." Aang yelled in anger, surprising Katara with the tone of his voice. "That's where you're wrong kid, the Firelord himself equipped me with these restrained. Those are specially made for the prince." Zhao states as he takes them from the soldier and drops them in front of Aang so he would have a clear view of them. He notices a pair of shackles that will completely encase wearer's hands in metal, multiple sets of shackles connected with chains and the last thing Aang notices makes him sick to his stomach, a muzzle. "You are sick, he is not an animal. Why would you even need that?" Aang screams at Zhao who throws Aang an evil smirk. "Only the strongest firebenders are blessed with the gift of breathing fire and we know for a fact the prince is one of them, we're not risking him using any bending." Zhao explains as he turns and walks away, leaving the restraints in front of the boy. 

"Lei found him, sir, he's bringing him here now." One of the soldiers yelled as he came running to them on a komodo rhino, Aang and Katara looked at each other in fear. A couple of minutes later Lei entered the town square on a komodo rhino, a knocked out Zuko hanging over the animals back in front of Lei. "Finally." Zhao said as Lei dismounted the komodo rhino and took Zuko of it's back, throwing the unconscious boy to the ground at Zhao's feet. Katara started to panic, even more, when she noticed Sokka wasn't here and when she looks at Aang she notices a small smile on Aang's face. "what are you smiling about? They have Zuko and Sokka is missing." Katara hissed in a whisper tone, not wanting the soldiers or Zhao to hear them. "Exactly, Sokka isn't here and Zuko is not carrying his swords." Aang whispered in return, Katara looked at Zuko and notices that Aang was right the sheath on Zuko's back was empty. "Restrain him before he wakes up, I don't want the prince to even think he has a chance at escaping." Zhao ordered as hi smirked at the boy at his feet. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Someone stated and when everyone turned the person who said that they see Sokka in a fighting stance holding Zuko's dao swords. "And what are you gonna do about it?" Zhao asked while everyone had their eyes on Sokka. "Nothing, but He is." Sokka explains and they turn around just in time to see Zuko throw fire at Zhao who barely got out of the way in time, while Sokka had distracted them Zuko had used a fire dagger to cut through the ropes that bound him. When another soldier went to attack Zuko he was blocked by lei, which surprised Aang and Katara and out of nowhere five other soldiers changed sides and started covering for Zuko who was bussy fighting Zhao. Because of the battle, no one was paying attention to Sokka who used this to cut all the villagers loose, he handed one of the swords to Suki so she could free the Kyoshi warriors while he freed Katara and Aang. "Sokka, thank god you're safe. I thought you were gone when he only brought Zuko back." Katara states as she pulls Sokka in a tight hug. 

"He found me and Zuko in the woods but apparently he and those other five have sworn their allegiance to Zuko, I don't know why, but they are on our side. Now let's kick some fire nation butt." Sokka explained quickly and then turning around to help Suki and the other warriors to fight the fire nation. "Aang, you have to get avatar Zuko away from Kyoshi. It is important the fire nation won't get him and I am sure that once you are gone the fire nation will leave Kyoshi when they realize the avatar is no longer here." Oyaji explains just before Aang and Katara could join the fight. "He's right Aang. I'll get Appa and Momo, you'll get Sokka and Zuko." Katara says before she leaves the town square towards where they've last seen Appa and Momo. Aang picks his staff up from the ground and he notices Zuko doesn't have time to attack, Zhao keeps throwing fire so Zuko can only defend himself by deflecting the fire, Zuko needs to airbend. "Zuko, catch." Aang yells and throws the staff as he has Zuko's attention, Zuko catches it and holds it in front of him like he is challenging Zhao. 

Zhao commences by sending two fireballs in Zuko's direction. Zuko ducks underneath the first and uses the staff to decimate the next fireball. He rapidly spins the staff over his head, propelling himself in the air. He lands in front of Zhao, who immediately kicks the staff out of his hands. Zuko jumps back and lands between two fans of a Kyoshi Warrior that are lying on the ground. He stands up and picks us the fan with his airbending. Zhao madly charges with his fist already held stretched out before him. Zuko spins around a few times to create a bigger momentum and uses the extra power of his swirl to blast Zhao in a nearby house with a strong blast of air. Zuko looks sad and lowers the fans, he runs down the main street and picks up Aang's staff along the way. Zuko tosses the object in the air, where it snaps open into a glider and jumps on. Zuko notices a lot of burning houses and the Fire Nation troops among them. Zuko looks back to see the burning statue of Avatar Kyoshi, which saddens him even more. 

Zuko lands near Aang, Sokka and Lei. "Look what I brought to this place."Zuko states sadly, Sokka feels bad for him. "It's not your fault." Sokka states after all, none of them knew Zhao was after Zuko. "Yes, it is. These people got their town destroyed trying to protect me." Zuko responds, the guilt clear in his voice. "Then let's get out of here. Zhao will leave Kyoshi to follow us. I know it feels wrong to run, but I think it's the only way." Aang states as he puts a comforting hand on Zuko's shoulder. "Don't worry prince Zuko, me and the other members of the forty-first division will stay here and help rebuild the village." Lei says, knowing his prince would feel better if they would help repair Kyoshi. Appa lands in front of them Katara helps Sokka get up while Aang and Zuko jump in the saddle using airbending. "Appa, yip yip!" Aang says, Appa groans and takes off. "Back to the ship! Don't lose sight of them!" Zhao yells as he gets back up when he sees the flying bison take of, Zhao and his men turn and run toward the coast where their ship is docked. 

"I know it's hard, but you did the right thing."Sokka tells Zuko as he sits down next to the firebender, gesturing to the village behind them. "Zhao would have destroyed the whole place if we had stayed. They're going to be okay, Zuko." Sokka said, comforting Zuko. 

"I hope so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was wondering which element would be hardest for Zuko to learn, for Aang it was earth and for Korra it was air, but I am not sure which one would be hardest for Zuko.
> 
> I was hoping maybe you guys could help me out, so please let me know what you think and why


	7. Chapter 7 ~ Welcome to Omashu

"Finally, we're here." Aang cheers as the group of friends reach the top of a hill, looking at the pyramid structured city before them. "And where are we exactly?" Katara asks as she stops beside Aang, Zuko and Sokka standing a little behind them. The two of them had been closer since they've left Kyoshi island, Katara noticed, they had been continuously talking during their hike since they left Appa in the woods so they wouldn't get unwanted attention. "The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu! I used to always come here to visit my friend Bumi." Aang explains, looking back to face Sokka and Zuko. Aang didn't like this sudden friendship between them, Zuko was his best friend so why did Sokka think he could just come in and take Aang's place? "Wow. We don't have buildings like this in the South Pole!" Katara states, impressed by what she can see from the city from this far away. "They have buildings here that don't melt!" Sokka jokes at his sister, slightly impressed by what he sees as well.

"Well let's go, slowpokes. The real fun's inside the city!" Aang says excitedly, as he grabs Zuko's arm and pulls him along as he leaps off the top of the hill with his airbending, knowing Zuko would follow his lead. "Wait, Aang! It could be dangerous if people find out you're an Airbender and Zuko is fire nation so they will think he is suspicious as well." Katara states as Sokka and her make their way down the hill. "You two need a disguise." Sokka agrees as they reach the bottom of the hill to face Aang and Zuko. "I do have a cloak in my bag." Zuko offers as he opens his bag and takes out a black cloak to show it to his friends. "Great, Zuko, give Aang the cloak and come with me." Sokka exclaims, clearly having an idea. "Wait why would Zuko have to hand his cloak to me, he has to wear a disguise too right?" Aang asks as he takes the cloak Zuko offered to him. "we just have to cover your tattoos which is easy to do with a cloak but Zuko is wearing fire nation clothes and he also really looks like fire nation. If we don't want them to think he is a fire nation spy we need to make him look less fire nation, so if anyone asks your father was fire nation and your mother is water tribe which is where you were raised." Sokka explains as he opens his bag and takes out an extra set of his clothes and hands them to Zuko. "Wear that." He says as he points at a bush for Zuko to change behind. "That's crazy Sokka, do you really think they'd believe that?" Katara asks when Zuko disappears behind the bush with Sokka's clothes. "You know half-bloods exist right?" Sokka asks sarcastically, Aang clearly isn't paying attention anymore, showing his cloak off to Momo.

"I'm not so sure about this." Zuko stated as he makes his way back from behind the bush, looking down at the blue clothes he's wearing. "What are you talking about? You look great." Sokka states as he takes in Zuko, for some reason he really likes the fact that the young avatar is wearing his clothes. "What are we waiting for, let's go." Aang states from behind them as he puts on his cloak. "Wait, just one more thing." Sokka says as he takes a spare hair tie from his bag and walks over to Zuko, pulling the top part of the firebender's hair back and tying it into a wolfs tail, the way Zuko's hair looked reminded Sokka of his own father's hairstyle but Zuko's hair was a bit shorter. "Now we're ready." Sokka states as he takes a step back to admire his work. "Now let's get to skippin', young whipper-snappers. The big city awaits!" Aang states from behind them, they all turn to face Aang and noticed he has a fake mustache made of Appa's fur on his face. 

"Aang what are you doing? you already have Zuko's cloak, you don't need to wear a fake mustache." Katara says as she tries to keep herself from laughing. "Well Zuko gets to be this cool water tribe dude so I decided I wanted to be someone else too. from now on I'm your grandfather." Aang explains as they start walking towards the city and Sokka gives him a disbelieving look. "Aang you're the youngest out of all of us, you can't be our grandfather." Sokka states as he starts following after Katara, Aang and Zuko, catching up with them. "Technically, Aang is 112 years old. I think it's a great idea buddy." Zuko says as he shoots Aang a smile. 

"You guys are going to love Omashu. The people here are the friendliest in the world." Aang states as the group of friends approach the gate to the city, Aang's eyes widen in surprise as he hears the harsh voice of the sentry and they stop walking. "Rotten cabbages? What kind of slum do you think this is?!" One of the three sentries standing at the gate yells harshly at the cabbage merchant that's standing with his cart in front of the closed gate of Omashu. The talking guard as he squishes the cabbage he is holding and knocks another two cabbages out of the merchant's hands. He proceeds by earthbending a rock under the cart, catapulting it high in the air, making it tumble down the chasm with all the cabbages. "No! My cabbages!" The cabbage merchant yells as he leans over the rim of the path, dramatically waving his arms in despair. "Just keep smiling!" Aang says with a broad smile on his face, somewhat nervously. While Aang and Zuko walk over to the guards, Katara and Sokka give each other an uneasy look. Katara flashes her teeth in an awkward way and chuckles uncomfortably, while Sokka merely raises a doubtful eyebrow. As Aang and Zuko approach the sentries at the gate, the earthbender steps to the front and raises a boulder out of the ground before Aang and levitates it above his head.

"State your business!" The sentry states Aggressively as he glares at them. "My business is my business, young man, and none of yours! I've got half a mind to bend you over my knee and paddle your backside!" Aang responds in an old man's voice, poking the chest of the sentry with his staff. " Settle down, old-timer! Just tell me who you are." The earthbender says in a calmer voice than he used before. "Name's Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis, the Third, and these are my grandkids. I know this one looks a bit like a member of the fire nation but he was raised by me in the water tribe." Aang says in his old man's voice, motioning to Zuko for the last part, while Sokka and Katara stand behind them in shock. "Hi. June Pippinpaddleopsicopolis. Nice to meet you." Katara says as she walks up, smiling friendly and waving at the sentries. "You seem like a responsible young lady. See that your grandfather stays out of trouble. Enjoy Omashu!" The guard states while pensively rubbing his head and pointing at Katara. "We will!" Katara says lightheartedly as the guard steps aside and motions at the city's entrance. They all start making their way towards the gate, Sokka passes the guard with an uneasy look on his face, never letting the guard out of sight. " Wait a minute! You're a strong young boy! Show some respect for the elderly and carry your grandfather's bag!" The sentry says while eying Sokka as he passes, Sokka's eyes change from fright to disbelief and annoyance while Aang removes his shoulder bag. "Good idea!" Aang says in his old man's voice as he throws the bag at Sokka; the bag bounces off his head to drop into his arms. Sokka shoots Aang an annoyed glare over his shoulder.

The giant earthen wall splits open in the middle of the emblem, opening up to let any passengers through. The guard opens up the gate walls. As the first wall slides open, a second and third are bent aside as well. They walk through as the walls already start to move again to close right after them, Sokka and Katara, excitedly taking in the city spread out before them as Aang and Zuko come up next to them, Momo's head entirely popped out of Aang's cloak. "This is the Omashu delivery system. Miles and miles of tubes and chutes." Aang states as he notices the way Sokka and Katara take everything in. Four earthbenders are standing beside a platform where one earthen cart slides out of the away and another one filled with vegetables comes into its place. As the cart passed one earthbender, he uses his bending to change the cart's directing and pushes it to the front, where another earthbender bends it up a tube to two other earthbenders standing at the ready to receive it. One earthbender quickly bends stone lintels underneath the cart so it would not fall down again, while the other one thrusts it off the platform, where it slides down a chute at high speed." Aang explains with a grin on his face. "Great, so they get their mail on time." Sokka states, unimpressed by what the structure was used for. 

"They do get their mail on time, but my friend Bumi found a better use for these chutes." Aang says as he squints eyes mischievously. "Look Aang we are only here to get some new supplies and then we have to continue or trip to the north pole." Katara states as she notices how Aang looks at the chutes. "Zuko and I will only make one ride while you and Sokka go and dot that. Then we're off to the North Pole. Airbender's honor." Aang said, raising one finger to emphasize his words, after a while, Katara sighed and nodded. "It sounded like okay at first, but now that I'm here, I'm starting to have second thoughts!" Zuko states as he is sitting behind Aang in a stone cart at the top at a chute, Aang leans forward, tipping the balance of the box, sending it down the slope at a tremendous speed. Aang is happily laughing while Momo is holding on to his cloak, squinting his eyes due to the wind. The cart makes a turn and follows it down the slope. The chute they are riding pulls up next to a parallel one, where a cart with a rack of six spears is racing down. Their cart pulls up next to the cart with the spears and Zuko stares at it, not making a sound. They race past it and both tracks join together. "Aang do something!" Zuko yells as the two chutes merge into one chute with the spear-cart behind them, quickly gaining. Aang, smiling excitedly, turns to see what Zuko is talking about. 

"I'm on it!" Aang yells back excitedly, Aang begins to rock the cart. Hitting each side once, the cart flies out of the chute and onto a roof, where it continues its descent. The cart comes in riding between a soldier who is talking to a group of warriors the warriors, the warriors gasp in surprise as the cart ricochets and continues moving. "Aang, do something! Use your airbending!" Zuko commands as they enter another chute. "Yeah, good idea! That'll make us go even faster!" Aang says excitedly as he airbends behind him. They pass by a restaurant, where a couple is eating together. They look up in surprise at the kids flashing by while the waiter dashes over to see what is going on. Their cart is flying down an incredibly steep slope. As the slope flattens out, Zuko yells out in alarm as they are moments from colliding with a motionless cart in front of an earthbender. The earthbender on duty at that station sends it on its way, briefly relieving Zuko in the speeding cart. Much to the Zuko's horror, another cart instantly pops up from the tube below the bender. Before it can be moved, their cart crashes into it, catapulting them and their cart into the air, high above a lower level of the city. Aang airbends the cart in front of them as they fall, making them drop back into the cart. They ride down several roofs, leaving damaged tiles in their wake. The cart flies through a window, ricochets off of the floor where a vase is, smashing it and making the Zuko and Aang grunt, flying out the window opposite. The craftsman that was working on the vase peers out the ruined window as a dust cloud emerges, revealing that the cart has crashed against something else.

"Sorry!" Aang yells as they land on a balcony and slide through another house. Emerging on the other side, a bearded cat chases Momo around Aang's cloak until the lemur pushes it off. The cabbage merchant that had his cabbage cart thrown into the abyss earlier, now cuddling a cabbage at a replacement cart is standing in the streets of Omashu. Alerted by something coming from up above, he walks from underneath the cart's roof to check it out, and gasps in horror as the Aang and Zuko's cart drops on it, smashing the replacement cart to pieces and scattering what intact cabbages are left all over. Aang and Zuko are in a tangled heap by the remains, while Momo elegantly floats down. "My cabbages! You're gonna pay for this!" The cabbage merchant yells while grasping his head in despair, guards walk up, surrounding the still dazed duo. "Two cabbages please." Aang states sheepishly as he sits up, his disguise pretty much gone, revealing his youthful face and airbending arrow.

"Sokka what was all that commotion about?" Katara asks as her brother comes running back while shopping for supplies they hear a loud crash and Sokka left to investigate.

"Zuko and Aang just got arrested!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have been thinking about what kind of animal guide I will give Zuko in this story and I don't wanna go for the obvious choice of giving him a dragon, so I would like to know what animal he should have as his animal guide and why.


	8. help ~ author's note

I was wondering what kind of animal Zuko would have as his animal guide and I don’t want to go with the obvious choice of a dragon, Roku had his dragon, Aang had Appa and Korra had Naga, but I am not sure what animal Zuko would have.

I was hoping maybe you guys could help me out since I want to introduce them soon, I have a few options from a similar question on my Tumblr. The options I have that I liked and are up for choosing by you guys are a turtle duck, an armadillo lion (it was in the part where Aang helped the zoo animals in the episode The Tales of Ba Sing Se), an ostrich horse or a komodo rhino.

please let me know which of these options you prefer and why, I would also like to know what you would think the name of Zuko's animal guide should be. If you think a different animal for Zuko that isn't one of the options let me know what it is and why you think it would be a good animal guide for Zuko.

I also wanna thank you all so much for the support, it really helps me to keep writing and brings me so much joy. I love you all


	9. Chapter 8 ~ The King of Omashu

The King of Omashu is sitting on his throne, flanked by two guards, in the back of an enormous room, one of the guards slightly moves aside to let Aang and Zuko pass. Zuko looks very uneasy, Aang slants his eyes up in an attempt to look sympathetic and glances to the side. The elderly king, who looks at them questioningly, arches an eyebrow and grunts in wonder, he watches the scene before him as his "visitors" are being pushed into a kneeling position by two guards. "Your majesty, these juveniles were arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretenses, and malicious destruction of cabbages." One of the guards explained to the right of Aang and Zuko explained. "Off with their heads! One for each head of cabbage!" The cabbage merchant, who was standing to the side, yelled while jumping agitatedly up and down, waving his left fist in the air. "Silence! Only the king can pass down judgment. What is your judgment, sire?" The guard states as he gestures to the merchant. Before the king can respond the door opens and another guard walks in, followed by Sokka and Katara, they are being forced in a kneeling position beside Aang and Zuko. "These two say they are with the other two delinquents." The guard explains before he leaves. "As I was saying your highness, what is your judgment?" The same guard as before repeated. "Throw them ...a feast!" The king states as he raises his hand, the guard gasps and the merchant grasps his head with both hands in dismay upon hearing the king's verdict. Sokka is smiling, while Katara darts a questioningly look towards Aang and Zuko, who both arch their eyebrows in wonder. 

In front of them is a richly-filled dining table filled with all sorts of different dishes and teapots, Momo is sitting on top of the table as he eats a lot of the food, chittering contently. "The people in my city have gotten fat from too many feasts, so I hope you like your chicken with no skin." The king, who is standing behind Aangs chair, explains to the Airbender as he leans in over Aang, grabbing the chicken leg that is on his plate, holding it in front of him. "Thanks, but I don't eat meat." Aang replies, declining the offered chicken politely. "How about you? I bet you like meat." The king says to Sokka and before the young warrior can reply, the king stuffs the chicken into Sokka's mouth and walks over to his own seat. "Is it just me, or is this guy's crown a little crooked?" Katara whispers quietly to Aang as she turns circles with her index finger beside her temple, implying the king is crazy. "So tell me, young bald one, where are you from?" The king asks Aang as he sits down. "I'm from ... Kangaroo Island!" Aang lies, gazing over at Zuko so he didn't have to make eye contact with the king. "Oh, Kangaroo Island, eh? I hear that place is really hopping!" The king joked, a moment of silence occurs and then Sokka bursts out laughing while Katara and Aang look at him with a blank expression and Zuko gives him a small smile. "What? It was pretty funny." Sokka says as he stopped laughing, sounding unsure of himself. "Well, all these good jokes are making me tired. Guess it's time to hit the hay." The king states, lazily stretching his arms as he yawns. The king eyes the children with a weird expression as he leans to the left on his chair. Suddenly, he hurls a chicken leg at them, Aang nearly tumbles off his chair in a reflex of catching the chicken leg in a small airball. The guards behind the king gasp in surprise while Aang is still suspending the chicken leg in the airball.

"There's an Airbender in our presence and not only an Airbender, but also the crown prince of the fire nation and if I'm correct the avatar is here too." The king states as he decisively stands up. Aang quickly stops bending and puts his hands behind his back, the chicken leg falls on his plate. "Now, what do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Pippinpaddleopsicopolis?" The king asks as he sits down again with a smile on his face. "Okay, you caught us. Zuko is a fire nation prince, Aang is an Airbender and I'm the Avatar. Doing my Avatar thing, keeping the world safe. Everything checks out. No fire nation spies here. So, good work, everybody! Love each other, respect all life, and don't run with your spears. We'll see you next time!" Sokka states as he starts pulling Katara, Zuko and Aang with him as he starts walking backward towards the exit. As they near the guards at the exit door, the two men cross their spears, effectively blocking their paths. "You can't keep us here! Let us leave!" Katara says with a bit of anger in her voice. "We're in serious trouble. This guy is nuts." Sokka whispers to his friends while holding his hand for his mouth. "Tomorrow, all four of you will face a deadly challenge. But for now, the guards will show you to your chamber." The king states, taking in the shocked faces of the four friends. "My liege, do you mean the good chamber or the bad chamber?" One of the guards asks. "The newly refurbished chamber." The king responds as he turns to face the guard. "Wait, which one are we talking about?" The guard asks, confused by which chamber the king means. "The one that used to be the bad chamber, until the recent refurbishing, that is. Of course, we've been calling it the new chamber, but we really should number them. Uh, take them to the refurbished chamber that was once bad!" The king states, the guards nod and lead Sokka, Katara, Zuko, and Aang out of the dining room.

A wall cracks and moves down, revealing a room, Aang with Momo perched on his shoulder, Katara, Zuko, and Sokka are roughly pushed inside, the wall is immediately bent up again after them. The room has four green beds in the center with four green drapes hanging from the ceiling above them. "This is a prison cell? But it's so nice." Katara states as she scans the room. "He did say it was newly refurbished." Aang responds as Momo jumps off his shoulder and onto a bed. "Nice or not, we're prisoners!" Sokka yells and immediately feels guilty, he is already complaining while Zuko had been a prisoner for three years. "I wonder what this challenge is going to be." Zuko says, noticing Sokka's look of regret about his previous comment and chooses to let it go. "We're not sticking around to find out. There's got to be some way out of here." Katara states, determined. "The air vents!" Aang says excitedly while pointing the other side of the room. Aang smiles happily, staring at the hole, while Katara and Sokka eye each other in wonder and Zuko looks at the Airbender in understanding. "If you think we're going to fit through there, you're crazier than that king." Sokka says harshly, frustrated by the situation. "Sokka calm down, Aang is right. We can't, but Momo can!" Zuko says as he turns to face Sokka. Momo is lazily lying on the bed, licking a half-eaten apple, his belly protrudes from eating so much. Aang appears at the side of the bed. "Momo, I need you to find Appa and bust us outta here!" Aang tells his lemur with hope in his voice. Momo looks up surprised to his friend, blinking and chittering softly. Momo is pushed inside the tube, he is shoved back and forth a few times, much to its displeasure. Aang is standing on a chair, trying to push Momo into the air vent without success. "Go on, boy, get Appa!" Aang says while looking down discouraged, leaving Momo stuck in the vent. "Eh, how was Appa supposed to save us anyway?" Sokka asks as he is relaxing on a bed, meanwhile, Momo is trying to free himself by pushing against the wall with his hind legs."Appa's a ten-ton flying bison, I think he could figure something out." Aang responds, Momo is unsuccessful and gives up, his hind legs hanging down in defeat. "Well, no point arguing about it now. we all need to get some rest. Looks like we'll need it for tomorrow." Zuko states as he gets into one of the beds, Aang slowly nods as he makes his way towards the bed beside Zuko, not long after that all four of them are asleep.

The next morning Zuko woke up he wasn't in the bed he fell asleep in, he looked around and noticed he was surrounded by four stone walls, trapping him between them, the wall behind Zuko opens, revealing a guard. "Where are my friends?" Zuko growls, anger clear in his voice. "The king will free them and you if the four of you complete the challenge." The guard responds, not showing any reaction to Zuko's anger. "And if we fail?" Zuko asks, not showing any of his fear to the guard in front of him. "He didn't say. Your swords, please?" The guard says, extending his arm. Zuko looks down and notices he still was wearing the sheath of his dao swords over his torso sideways, he pulls the sheath over his head to take it off and handed it to the guard. The guard takes his sword and steps aside, making place for the crazy king to step in front of Zuko. "First, Prince Zuko, what do you think of my new outfit? I want your honest opinion. I'm waiting." The king asks seriously as he spread his arms, showing off his purple outfit while Zuko blankly stares at him. "I ... guess it's fine." Zuko said while scratching his head, he didn't like the outfit at all. "Excellent! You passed the first test." The king said with a smile on his face, Zuko looked at him in surprise. "Really?" Zuko asked suspiciously. "Well, not the deadly test. The real challenge is much more, uh, challenging." The king explained, waving his finger from side to side, emphasizing his words. "I don't have time for your crazy games! Give me my friends back! We're leaving!" Zuko says aggressively. "That's not how this works. Like I've already explained to your friends, all four of you are on a different size of a massive maze filled with all kinds of obstacles, some dangerous and some not so much. When the challenge starts one of the walls surrounding you will open, allowing you to enter the maze. All four of you have to make your way through the maze and find each other, the only way you all find your way out of this maze is to trust on each other. There is also something in the maze that will be of great importance to the avatar and without the avatar finding it there will be no way out of this maze." The king explained and Zuko looked at him with big eyes, Katara was right this guy is crazy.

"How are you so sure one of us is the avatar, I don't know if you noticed but the avatar hasn't been around for a hundred years." Zuko exclaims, deciding not to give his identity away, mainly because Sokka also tried to hide it during dinner by telling the king he was the avatar. "I may be old but my instincts have never been wrong and right now my instinct is telling me that one of the members of your little group is in fact the avatar." The king explains as he turns away from Zuko. "Good luck, Prince Zuko." The king states as he walks away, the wall closing again so Zuko is trapped between the four walls. Zuko had been pacing the small space for a while when suddenly a different wall than before opened, revealing a long path, the maze, Zuko thinks to himself.

"Let the challenge begin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for this filler chapter but it had to be this way. Also next chapter we will meet Zuko's animal guide. Thank you so much for your help on choosing his animal guide, like I said you will meet him next chapter and then I will explain why I choose said animal, I hope you will all like him.


	10. Chapter 9 ~ The maze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it took me a while to write this chapter but it's finally here and in this chapter, we will meet Zuko's animal guide. At the and of this chapter I will explain why this is the choice I made.

Zuko carefully makes his way into the maze, the walls are massive and without his glider, there is no way even Aang could reach the top of these walls so there is no way Zuko could make it. He walks until he comes to the end of the path where he has to choose which way to go. "Think Zuko, which way do I go? Left or right?" Zuko softly asked himself, he looked to the right and saw the whole path from both sides of the walls was covered in thick vines covered in thorns. There was no way he would be able to get through that. To the left, he noticed the hard ground he was standing on disappeared and made place for some kind of river but instead of being filled with water it was filled by mud that was so thin it could have almost been water. There are stones in the river, not close enough to form a path across it but close enough for Zuko to jump from one stone to the next. Zuko sighed, making his way to the left, he runs up and jumps on the nearest stone, wobbling a bit as he lands. Zuko quickly regains his composure and jumps onto the next stone, this was easier than he thought it would be. 'You've got this.' Zuko thought to himself as he makes his way across the muddy river, swiftly jumping from stone to stone. Finally, the end of the river came into view, he made his last jump and his feet landed on solid ground. 'Is this all they've got?' Zuko thought, surprised by how easy his first task in the maze was. 

Sokka had been walking through the maze for a while, not really sure where to go. He had come across some sort of an abyss in the maze, he was walking and suddenly the ground just stopped and it started again about 32 feet further it started again. He had noticed that the wall had some part sticking out from it that he could use to climb across the wall so he could reach the other side of the abyss. That had been a while ago and now he has just been walking around and he hasn't come across anything after that, he has been walking on the same path for a while. Sokka is startled by a loud noise that comes from a little further down the path, he hears the sound again and slowly approaches it. 'Why did they have my weapons away? Those other guys still have bending to protect themselves with, I don't' Sokka thinks as he slowly creeps forward, tensing again when the noise repeats itself. Suddenly Sokka knows what the voice is, it's quacking. He moves closer and then he sees it, frantically running towards him is a small turtleduck, when the small creature reaches him Sokka notices there is something around its neck. He crouches down to get a better look and notices it looks like a bit like the hair ornament some members of the fire nation wear. it looks a bit like a flame. The turtle duck nudges Sokka's leg and walks away, wanting the water tribe boy to follow him. "Alright, I'll trust you." Sokka tells the turtleduck, following the small creature as it confidently starts walking in front of Sokka.

Katara had been walking through the maze for what felt like hours, she hasn't come across any sort of challenge which she thought was odd, the crazy king told them they would all faze a deadly challenge but so far she hasn't done anything but walk. She turns a corner and sees a giant sleeping creature, it has huge claws and a giant horn on its nose and two huge horns on its head. She sees that a couple of feet behind the creature, which she now recognizes as a komodo rhino, there is some sort of waterfall blocking the path. She carefully walks forward, not wanting to wake up the creature because she heard how dangerous they can be when woken up from their sleep, when suddenly behind her a wall moves up, preventing her from going back. The wall going up made enough noise for the komodo rhino to wake up, its eyes lock onto Katara as it lets out an angry noise. Katara looks around for an exit and realizes the only way out is through the waterfall, she looks back at the animal and notices he starts running towards her, ready to attack. She quickly jumps out of the way, resulting in the komodo rhino almost running into the wall behind her. The creature is no longer blocking her way to the waterfall so Katara starts running towards her only way out, the komodo rhino on her heels. The creature almost has her so she knows that when she makes it through the waterfall that she immediately has to freeze the water so it can't follow her. She runs through the water and quickly turning around to freeze it, she was just in time because frozen into the water is part of the komodo rhino's horn. "I never knew I could freeze so much water." Katara says in a happy voice, glad she learned something new about her bending. "Katara?" She hears and turns around to see Sokka, she notices they were standing in some sort of courtyard with a huge fountain in the middle. A wall shoots up, closing the path Katara just came from and she notices there are only two other pathways left. "My path closed up too, I think Aang and Zuko are supposed to come from there." Sokka explained.

Aang was bored, this crazy king had promised him some exiting challenges and yet nothing has happened, it's just a regular maze. It wasn't even hard, sure they took away his staff but they let him keep momo, who has been flying above the walls, showing Aang where to go. "I wonder what the king was talking about when he said there was something in the maze that would be of great importance to the avatar, what could it be?" Aang asks himself as he turns a corner, suddenly coming face to face with an ostrich horse. "Finally, something fun, I've always wanted to ride an ostrich horse." Aang yelled as he used airbending to jump onto its back, the creature started to squawk and tries to trow Aang of its back. Momo flies down to get the creature's attention when the eyes of the ostrich horse are locked on the flying lemur, Momo starts flying in front of it, the ostrich horse following and trying to catch him as Momo leads it through the maze. Aang is laughing as they pick up speed, barely noticing it when they run into a courtyard where Momo lands on Katara's shoulder. "Aang there you are!" Katara yells happily, Aang gets of the ostrich horse to greet her, the ostrich horse turns around and runs back into the pathway they came from, a wall closing behind him. "Why is Sokka holding a turtleduck?" Aang asks as he looks behind Katara and notices Sokka holding the small creature. "It showed me the way and instead of your ostrich horse which decided to run away, this little guy decided to stay." Sokka explains. "So where is Zuko?" Aang asks, shrugging off Sokka's explanation about the turtleduck.

Zuko had been walking for a while, after that mud river he hadn't come across anything special, sure he came across a part where it was so dark you couldn't see where you were going but that was nothing a little flame couldn't fix. Zuko turns the corner and notices a small bunny in a corner, cowering in fear, Zuko crouches down so he could try to calm the bunny down when he hears a low growl behind him. He slowly turns around and sees a large armadillo lion ready to attack, Zuko gets up and is ready to defend the bunny. Zuko had always been an animal lover and there is no way he will let this large predator hurt this scared little bunny. The armadillo lion pounces and Zuko moves away just in time, the creature turns to attack the young avatar again. Zuko smiles, noticing the armadillo lion is focussing on him and no longer on the bunny. "That's right, come and get me." Zuko taunts, the predator gets ready to jump at him again when out of nowhere a fireball crashes in between the two of them. Zuko cowers away in fear, a flashback of his father burning him comes to the front of his mind as the prince curls in on himself in fear, he slowly opens his eyes and notices the armadillo lion had reacted the same way as he did. Zuko looked at the creature with surprise and wonder in his eyes only to see the armadillo lion look at him the same way. They both slowly get up and walk towards each other, Zuko notices a large burn scar on the armadillo lion's left front leg and he feels horrible. He slowly drops to his knees to show he doesn't want to harm the creature, it comes closer and sits down in front of Zuko just inches away.

The armadillo lion looks down at its own scar and then up to Zuko's face, Zuko thinks he slowly sees recognition in the creature's eyes as it repeats this one more time. The armadillo lion looks sideways at the bunny and then back at Zuko and that's when Zuko realizes it. "You weren't trying to hurt it, you were trying to protect it from me." Zuko states and the armadillo lion gives him a small nod as if he understands him. The armadillo lion looks at its own scar again and then back up at Zuko's scar, slowly moving closer and carefully licking over Zuko's scar. Suddenly the scar on the armadillo lion's leg starts glowing white and so does Zuko's own scar, the prince gasps when he sees some sort of flashback. He sees the armadillo lion in a fire nation circus, they want him to jump through a burning hoop and when he refuses the firebender training him burns his leg. Zuko gasps when the flashback is over and looks at the armadillo lion and by the way the creature looks back at him it's clear he just saw how Zuko got his scar. "I am lost in here, could you maybe help me find my friends?" Zuko asks the armadillo lion and it gives a small nod, laying down and motioning for Zuko to get on it's back.

"We have to go look for Zuko!" Aang states while pacing back and forth, he had been doing this ever since Katara had told him the firebender wasn't there yet. "We can't Aang, what if we get lost or we could just miss him if we go the wrong way." Katara explains as she put her hand on Aang's shoulder, Sokka sets the turtleduck down at the side of the fountain and walks up to them. "Katara is right Aang." Sokka says as he notices the slight anger on the airbender's face. "But we've been waiting here for hours!" Aang yells, feeling worried for his best friend. "Aang you got here no longer than fifteen minutes ago." Katara responds and Aang's shoulders sack in defeat. "She is right Aang and besides Zuko is strong and smart, he'll be here in no time." Sokka agrees, trying to make Aang feel better, he knows Zuko will be here soon. Aang gives them a small nod and slowly sits down at the side of the fountain. Suddenly they here a notice, it sounds a bit like a growl and out of nowhere, a huge armadillo lion makes its way into the courtyard, Zuko on its back. "Zuko!" Aang yells happily as he jumps up and runs towards Zuko who just got of the creatures back, only to be stopped by the armadillo lion stepping in front of the prince protectively and growling at him. "Calm down buddy, they're my friends. You can trust them." Zuko tells the animal while scratching it behind its ear, and the armadillo lion leans into his touch.

The turtleduck that was on the side of the fountain started quacking loudly and started running towards Zuko, the prince's eyes widen in surprise when he sees the little thing and he gets down on his knees quickly so he can catch the turtleduck that jumped towards him. "What are you doing here? I thought Azula would have found you for sure! I missed you so much, buddy." Zuko says as he hugs the turtleduck to his chest as he gets up. "Uhm Zuko, do you know this turtleduck?" Katara asks as they all look at Zuko in confusion, the armadillo lion standing protectively behind him. "Yeah, this is Ren, we had a turtleduck pond back at the palace and he was sick so I sneaked him into my room to help him get better. I don't know how he got here though, the last time I saw him was in the palace." Zuko explains as the turtle duck crawls into his shirt, being able to lie in there because of the white strip tied around the blue shirt to keep it in place. The small courtyard they were all standing on suddenly started moving up, they all looked up and noticed there was a hole in the ceiling the size of the platform they were standing on.

The platform came up through the hole and stopped moving when the ground was even, in front of them stood the crazy king and some of his guards. "Congratulations, you survived the maze." The king states with a wicked smile on his faze. "Survived? There was barely anything there, you said there would be a deadly challenge." Aang states as he approaches the king. "I lied." The king responds as he starts laughing, Aang looks back at Zuko who just shrugs. "And what was in the maze that was 'of great importance to the avatar'?" Sokka asks, noticing there was nothing Zuko brought. "You tell me, avatar Zuko." The king states and every one of them looks at him with big eyes, how did he know? "How did you know it was me?" Zuko asks when he was done staring. "Fire sage Shyu was there at the Agni Kai, he couldn't help you back then but he did send word to the white lotus telling us about your identity, they asked me to help you find a missing piece if you ever came here." The king explained. "So what did you find Zuko?" Katara asks as she notices the confusion leaving the prince's face. "My animal guide, every avatar has one." Zuko states, Aang looks at him with a happy smile. "So you put us in the maze so Zuko could find his turtleduck." Sokka says sarcastically. "I'm not talking about Ren, Sokka, I'm talking about the armadillo lion. An animal guide represents what their avatar stands for but for me, a turtleduck represents my mother. This guy showed me something that I do myself, he protects the helpless even though he is scared himself." Zuko states as he pets the large creature as it starts to purr. 

"Correct young avatar, now there is only one question left." The king states as he turns to face Aang. "What is my name?" He asks the Airbender with a wicked smile, Aang looks at him and after a while, his frown turned into a smile. " Bumi, you're a mad genius." Aang states as he hugs the king like an old friend. "So Zuko, what are you naming your 'animal guide'?" Sokka asks as he moves closer to Zuko, Zuko looks the armadillo lion in the eyes and gives him a small smile. 

"His name is Koji."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are all probably wondering why I chose for an armadillo lion while most of you voted for a turtleduck. I agree with you all that it would be a great fit since Zuko loves turtleduck but for me, it is also something that links him to Ursa and turtleduck are very protective of their own just like Ursa is that's why I feel like to Zuko they represent his mother. I feel like in this story Zuko is strong and dangerous at times but he is also scared and wants to hide from the world and RoxieN explained it in her comment well, she said: the Armadillo lion is dangerous but also hides in his shell when in danger. Somehow I find that very fitting with the Zuko from this story.
> 
> I also decided to give Zuko a turtleduck but more as a Momo character just like MultiFandomTrash_1304 suggested.
> 
> If you are wondering about Koji's size he is bigger then a normal lion but he is not as big as Naga in the legend of Korra so he's a bit in between.
> 
> Thank you all so much for your help and input, I hope you like this chapter and I also hope you're all staying safe.
> 
> I will try to update soon.


	11. Chapter 10 ~ Tea time

"So can you remind me where we are going?" Sokka asks Aang, who is sitting on Appa's head as he is holding the reins in his hands. "Well Bumi said he did send word to the northern water tribe about our arrival, but Katara wanted to stop by the market in the port near here to buy some supplies with the money Bumi gave us." Aang explained while looking at Sokka, while he steers Appa down. "Why are you landing by a lake? the market is a little further." Katara says as she sits down next to Sokka. "I actually wanted to give Appa a bath and I'm sure Koji could use one as well, besides If we fly there with Appa everyone's attention will be on us." Aang explained. "That's a great idea Aang, maybe I could practice some waterbending." Katara states excitedly as Appa lands next to the lake. The moment Appa is on the ground Koji jumps out of his saddle, Zuko jumping out quickly after him, not long after they were all in the water.

"Koji did great for his first time flying right?" Sokka asked Zuko while the firebender was scrubbing the armadillo lion clean, looking for a good way to start a conversation with the boy. "Yeah, he really did." Zuko says with a proud smile as he turns away from Koji to face Sokka, a slight appears on his cheeks as he faces the water tribe boy. "Are you gonna put the saddle on him? The one king Bumi gave you." Sokka asks awkwardly, not really knowing what he should say. "I think so, it would be better for both of our backs to use the saddle. just hope he doesn't mind me riding him." Zuko explained only for Koji to push his head against Zuko's arm and give him a purr. "Well, I guess that's him telling you he doesn't mind." Sokka laughs as he pets Koji's head, happy to see how much the creature cares for Zuko. "I guess so." Zuko replies with a small smile. "Aang has Appa and Momo and now you've got Koji and Ren, I'm starting to feel left out with the awesome animal sidekicks." Sokka jokes, not noticing Ren swimming up to them. "Well, Ren seems to really like you." Zuko states as the little turtleduck snuggles up to Sokka's leg."Are you guys almost ready? We wanna go to the market soon." Katara yells from the side where they see Aang struggling to get his shirt on, both boys look at her and blush a little, not having realized they were the only two still in the water.

Zuko, Katara, Sokka, and Aang are walking through the streets of a city market and port, many armed men staring at the four of them. Sokka and Katara look nervous while Aang and Zuko look around in wonder. "I was wondering how Zuko and Aang could be best friends since they seem so different, but seeing Zuko going along with Aang's excitement so easily explains a lot." Katara tells her brother as they see Aang and Zuko happily walk ahead of them with Koji trailing behind them, the Airbender pulling the avatar from one stall to the next. "Well from what I understand Zuko never really had the time to be just a kid so I think Aang helps him to bring out that side of him. I think it's great." Sokka responds as he smiles fondly while looking at a laughing Aang and Zuko. "Yeah, it s, who would have that that the fire nation prince and the last Airbender would be best friends." Katara states as Aang and Zuko come walking towards them. 

"We've got exactly three copper pieces left from the money that King Bumi gave us. Let's spend it wisely." Sokka says once Aang, Zuko, and Koji are standing next to them. "Uh, make that two copper pieces, Sokka. I couldn't say no to this whistle!" Aang responds as he pulls out a white whistle that looks like a bison, takes a huge breath, and blows into it, but it barely makes a sound. It doesn't even work. See? Even Momo thinks it's a piece of junk." Sokka states when Aang stops blowing the whistle because Momo squawks at him. "Zuko how could you let him buy this." Katara asks, thinking Zuko would have known it was a piece of junk when he saw it. "You should have seen his face, I couldn't tell him no." Zuko replies as he shrugs. "No offense Aang, but I'll hold the money from now on." Katara says and Aang hands her the two copper coins. "I saw a stall that sells blankets, let's look at it since Gran-Gran only packed two sleeping bags." Sokka says, knowing that even though both Aang and Zuko could use there bending to keep themselves warm it would be a good idea for them to have an extra blanket. "Zuko, are you coming?" Aang asks as he notices Zuko staring off in the distance, not moving to follow after them. "Just go ahead, I'll catch up with you later." Zuko responds and they look at him with big eyes. "We are surrounded by armed people and the whole fire nation is after you, there s no way we'll just leave you here alone." Sokka states, not liking the idea of leaving Zuko alone, Katara and Aang nod in agreement. "I can protect myself and besides I won't be alone, Koji and Ren will be with me." Zuko say as he motions towards his Ren who is snuggled in his shirt. "Zuko is right he can take care of himself besides I really wanna look at that soft-looking blanket." Aang says excitedly, who would have thought he could be excited about a blanket, Katara and Sokka agree hesitantly as they follow Aang, leaving Zuko behind.

"I know what you're thinking, why would you tell them to leave you behind in a place like this? But Sokka has been doing great in sword practice and I think that he would be a better fighter with one sword instead of my dao swords, I still have some money left from the money I took from my room in uncle's ship." Zuko explains as he notices the look on Koji's face, clearly not happy about Zuko leaving his friends. Zuko walks into an alleyway where he noticed a stall that was selling weapons not long ago, Koji trailing behind him. Zuko looked at all the weapons that were on display in the stall when his eyes landed on a Jian, a straight sword, it had a black blade made of meteoric iron, the sheath is simple, dark brown and straight, adorned with a gold-plate inlay about midway down its length. The sheath's tip is rectangular and adorned with a stylized symbol made of gold filigree, while another is etched into the end of the grip. Zuko smiled immediately recognizing the sword as master Piandao's craftmanship, this sword would be perfect for Sokka, Zuko pays for the sword and turns to walk away but is met by someone he didn't expect to see here.

"Uncle, what are you doing here?" Zuko asks, trying not to let his uncle notice his surprise, holding his hand out to Koji to tell his animal guide not to attack. "I just want to talk to you Zuko, maybe we could talk over a cup of tea." Iroh says in a calm voice, motioning to his ship that was docked at the port. "What? so I will get on the ship and the moment I set foot aboard you will sail off to the fire nation? no thanks." Zuko states as he moves to walk around his uncle but Iroh steps in front of him again. "I promise you can leave when we're done, I just want to talk to you nephew." Iroh says sincerely and Zuko can see the man is telling the truth so he gives him a small nod. "Alright, lead the way." Zuko says and he sees a smile appear on his uncle's face, following after the older man with Koji walking behind them, never letting his guard down. 

"How did you know I was here?" Zuko asks as he sits down at the table while his uncle got two cups and his tea kettle, Koji lays down next to Zuko while always keeping his eyes on Iroh. "An old friend send me this way." Iroh replied with a small smile on his lips, setting the cups down onto the table and pouring the tea into the cups and he sits down across from Zuko. "So what do you wanna talk about?" Zuko asks as he grabs the cup and carefully takes a sip. "I want to know why your father banished you." Iroh states and Zuko looks at him in surprise, what was uncle talking about? Father didn't banish him, he locked him away. "What did he tell you?" Zuko asked trying not to let his uncle see the surprise in his eyes, he wants to know what lies his father told the world about him. "He said you spoke out of turn at a war meeting and had to fight an Agni Kai, he said you refused to fight and in doing so you dishonored yourself so he had to banish you and that the only way for you to return is to capture the avatar. Let me help you nephew." Iroh explained, not understanding why his nephew just won't accept his help. "That's not what happened uncle, did he tell you I had to fight him at that Agni Kai?" Zuko asked, hurt because his uncle believed the lies his father told. "No, he never mentioned that." Iroh replies quietly, ashamed he never wondered who Zuko had to fight. "When I went to defend myself by throwing a fireball at him, a blast of air came out instead. He burned my face when I was in shock by what I just did." Zuko explained as he looks down, ashamed of what happened. "But that means-" Iroh went to say but he never got to finish his sentence.

"I'm the avatar." Zuko states, cutting his uncle off as he looks at the man in front of him. "Father asked me to help him win this war, I told him no. Why can't he see how wrong this war is?" Zuko says quietly as his eyes start to water, Koji senses Zuko's mood swing and places his head in Zuko's lep so the young avatar could pet him and that's just what Zuko does as he tries to calm down. "What did he do next?" Iroh asked to hide his surprise about Zuko being the avatar, needing to know what his brother did to his nephew. "Next thing I knew I was being shipped off to his prison on the south pole, I was there for three years before Aang, Katar, and Sokka came to get me out." Zuko explains and Iroh looks at him in horror, not able to believe he just let Zuko rot in prison because he believed his brother. "I am so sorry Zuko, I should have known he was lying, I should have come straight home after I lost Lu Ten, maybe then this wouldn't have happened." Iroh rambles, guilt clear in his voice, it was his fault this happened to his nephew. "It's not your fault uncle, you couldn't have known this would happen." Zuko says needing his uncle to know he never blamed him, nobody could have known he was the avatar. "The last thing Lu Ten told me was that if he didn't make it I had to keep you safe, he said you were the only good thing left in the fire nation. I should have listened to him, I shouldn't have let the grief get to me." Iroh says with tears in his eyes, Zuko's eyes matching him. "I will never blame you for grieving Lu Ten's dead uncle and I will never blame you for what happened to me." Zuko states as he gets up and walks up to his uncle and pulls him in a hug, they both hold each other tight as they cried into the other's shoulder.

"I really think Zuko will like this blanket, it's so soft and big." Aang says as he if happily carrying a big blanket he told Katara he and Zuko could share, to get her to spend their last money on this. "Speaking about Zuko where is he?" Katara asks as they walk back to where they left Zuko, seeing no sign of the firebender and his armadillo lion. "there is a weapons stall over there, knowing Zuko that's where he went." Sokka says as he runs to the stall with Aang and Katara running after him. "Hello, we were wondering if you happened to see a boy with a large scar on the left side of his face and an armadillo lion." Katara asks the merchant, hoping he could help them find Zuko. "yes I saw them a while ago, they left with an old man in the direction of the port. I believe I heard the old man calling the boy nephew." The merchant responded with a kind was, the three friends look at each other in fear.

"General Iroh."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked this chapter, it took me a while to write it.
> 
> I was wondering if you guys would prefer it if I put the whole series in one book or if you would rather have me break it up into three books, please let me know what you would like better


	12. Chapter 11 ~ Catching up

"What are we gonna do? We can't just stroll onto general Iroh's ship and ask him if we could have Zuko back." Sokka states as the three of them walk into the port, next time Zuko tells them 'Just go ahead, I'll catch up with you later' he won't listen and stay back with the firebender. "Why can't we? Maybe we are wrong and Iroh is actually really nice." Aang says hopefully, after all, Zuko had always talked highly about his uncle. "Aang you've seen the way Iroh acted at the south pole, he's just like all the other fire nation soldiers." Katara says as she lays her hand on Aang's shoulder, knowing the Airbender just wants to avoid a fight.

"Uhm guys, there are two fire nation soldiers coming our way." Sokka says as he notices one of the two looking in there direction and points their location out to the other soldier. Sokka pulled Katara and Aang with him as he starts to walk into the direction away from the soldiers. "Hey, wait up. General Iroh just wants to talk to you!" One of the soldiers yelled as they quickly make there way through the port, hoping to catch up with the there friends who are trying to lose them in the crowd. "Maybe we should go with them and here Iroh out." Aang told Sokka who was pulling him and Katara through the port, not even listening to what the soldier just said. "Why should we? They already captured Zuko we can't let them take us too." Sokka says, not stopping for a second. "I don't think they captured Zuko, I think he went willingly. He would have put up a fight and we would have heard it if the captured him." Aang responds as he stops walking and yanks his wrist out of Sokka's hand, the watertribe boy looked at him in disbelief. "Aang what do you think you're doing?" Sokka asks as he looks around to find the fire nation soldiers. "I am going to see what Iroh has to say and see if I can get Zuko back." Aang states as he turns around and starts walking towards the soldiers who are still looking for them in the crowd, Sokka reaches out to grab Aangs wrist but Katara pulls his hand back.

"I think Aang is right, if they really captured Zuko he would have put up a fight and besides Koji is with him, he would have never let anyone take Zuko." Katara explained as she slowly leads Sokka with her to follow Aang. "You're right, I just don't understand why Zuko would just go with them." Sokka sighed, they quickly caught up with Aang who managed to find soldiers. "They said they would take us to Iroh." Aang states as they slowly follow the soldiers to a ship that is docked at the port. They make their way to the deck of the ship where they see something they weren't expecting. 

"If you let the energy in your own body flow, the lightning will follow it. You must create a pathway from your fingertips, up your arm to your shoulder, then down into your stomach. The stomach is the source of energy in your body. It is called the sea of chi. Only in my case, it is more like a vast ocean." Iroh says as laughs at his own joke while Katara, Aang, and Sokka looked at each other in disbelief. "From the stomach, you direct it up again, and out the other arm. The stomach detour is critical. You must not let the lightning pass through your heart, or the damage could be deadly. You may wish to try a physical motion, to get a feel for the pathways' flow, like this." Iroh explains and shows Zuko a motion that to Katara looks like a waterbending move, the prince slowly copying his uncle and begins to practice the redirection motion. "Are you focusing your energy? Can you feel your own chi flowing in, down, up, and out?" Iroh ask while he ignores his nephew's friends as he sees Zuko hasn't noticed their presence. "I think so." Zuko replies, not wanting to disappoint his uncle. "Come on, you've got to feel the flow." Iroh says and They practice the motion for a few more minutes. "Excellent! You've got it!" Iroh smiles as he praises his nephew, Zuko gives him a small bow to show his uncle respect, and as to say thank you. 

"Zuko what are you doing here?" Sokka asks and the frustration is clear in his voice, moving closer to the young avatar with Aang and Katara following behind him. "Uncle was teaching me how to redirect lightning since father and Azula are really good at bending lightning." Zuko explains in a calm voice as he ignores Sokka's frustration, walking closer to his friends as Koji keeps his eyes on him from where he is laying a couple of feet away from the prince. "No, I mean what are you doing on this ship" Sokka asks a little calmer than before, for some reason he didn't understand seeing that Zuko was alright had that effect on him. "Uncle wanted to talk so we said down for tea and apparently my father has lied to the whole fire nation about my whereabouts and why I left the country." Zuko explained when Ren popped up from behind Koji and quickly made his way towards Sokka, the water tribe boy crouches down and picks the turtle duck up. "what do you mean?" Katara asks, her eyes moving towards Iroh who now came up behind Zuko. "He told uncle I was banished and can't return to the fire nation unless I bring the avatar as his captive. That's why he acted the way he did at your village, he was trying to help me get home." Zuko explains as he takes Ren from Sokka's hand when the turtleduck starts to wiggle around in his hands. 

"So you found the little trouble maker, he snuck into one of the boxes of your stuff while I was loading the ship. I haven't seen him ever since I left Omashu." Iroh says as he notices the headpiece hanging around the turtle ducks neck. "what were you doing in Omashu." Aang asked with respect in his voice, he's just happy that there is at least one member of Zuko's family that cares about him. "I was just asking an old friend to keep an eye out for you guys, a few days ago he sent a message telling me to go here." Iroh explained and all four of them looked at the general in surprise. "Wait, is that how Ren ended up with king Bumi?" Sokka asks as he looks at the turtle duck in Zuko's arms. "I guess so but if you know Bumi why didn't you know Zuko is the avatar? he said a fire sage told the white lotus about Zuko and if you know Bumi you are a member of the white lotus" Aang states and Sokka turns to look at Iroh in suspicion.

"They didn't tell me, I think it's because I am still Ozai's brother so they probably did it as a precaution." Iroh said understanding why he wasn't told about his nephew's status. "I assume you're teaching Zuko the art of airbending." Iroh said as he looked at Aang, the boy gave Iroh a big smile and nodded. "Yes, Zuko is a natural. He will master airbending before we reach the north pole." Aang says proudly, the smile never leaving his face. "And that's where you'll be learning waterbending I assume." Iroh asks Zuko, putting his hand on the young avatar's shoulder. "Yes, king Bumi send word to the northern water tribe about our arrival." Zuko explained. "Good, it is important you'll master the four elements as soon as possible." Iroh states and the four friends look at him in confusion, Koji gets up and sits down next to Zuko when he sences the mood change. 

"This year the day of black sun will return, it is known as the darkest day of Fire Nation history." Iroh explained and the confusion only grew. "What does that mean?" Zuko quietly asked, they all barely heard the prince's question. "The Day of Black Sun is a celestial event during which the sun is entirely blocked out by the moon, rendering all firebenders powerless." Iroh explains, Sokka slowly gets closer to Zuko and places his hand on the firebender's shoulder in support when he notices the confusion on his face. "What does that have to do with Zuko mastering all the elements?" Katara asks, not understanding where Iroh's story is going. "The day of black sun will leave the Fire Nation and Fire Lord Ozai defenceless. You must defeat the Fire Lord, Prince Zuko, this is the best opportunity to do so" Iroh states and the four of them look at the general in disbelief.

"But I haven't even started learning waterbending! Not to mention earth!" Zuko Counters anxiously, Sokka squeezes his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. "Mastering the elements takes years of discipline and practice. But if you want to end the war, your best shot is to do it when Ozai is at his weakest." Iroh says seriously to make sure Zuko understands the earnest of this situation. "What if I can't master all the elements in time? What if I fail?" Zuko asks with fear clear in his voice, Koji rubs his head against Zuko's leg and purrs in an attempt to calm him down. "I know you can do it Zuko. According to Aang, you've already almost mastered airbending, you'll master water and earth in no time. I believe in you." Sokka says sincerely as he wraps his right arm around Zuko's shoulder, pulling him into a side hug. "We all believe in you Zuko, we'll help you every step of the way." Aang says as he hugs Zuko from the opposite side that Sokka is hugging. "They are right Zuko, we'll do this together." Katara states as she joins the little group hug that was happening.

"Zhao still thinks I am looking for you so I can take you back to the fire nation, I think it's best it'll continue that way. you four must continue your journey to the north pole and I will follow with my ship, you must act like I am still chasing you so Zhao will not doubt my motives and continues to trust me as much as possible." Iroh says as they broke the group hug, changing the subject quickly. "He's right, I also think you should stop wearing fire nation clothes for a while Zuko." Sokka states as he looks at Zuko's outfit that clearly was fire nation. "These are the only clothes I have Sokka, there are so many fire nation soldiers everywhere so it's not like I'm the only one wearing this type of clothing." Zuko states as he sees Sokka's eyes scanning over his body to check out his outfit. "Than you'll borrow mine, Zhao has everybody looking for a fire nation prince that's why you should not wear your clothes. We'll tell the people who ask that your father was a fire nation soldier but your mother was water tribe and that she raised you at the south pole alongside Katara and me." Sokka states, he knows Zuko doesn't like it but he is just concerned for the boy's safety so if he has to force him into water tribe clothes he will.

"Your friend is right Zuko, it would be safer for you to disguise yourself as a member of the water tribe." Iroh says, agreeing with Sokka. "Okay, but I don't like it." Zuko huffs, giving into Sokka and Iroh while Katara and Aang also nod in agreement. "You don't have to like it, you just have to be safe." Sokka states, wondering when he became this protective over the firebender. "It's time for you to leave, it won't be long before Zhao gets here." Iroh says as he pulls Zuko into a hug. "I'll miss you uncle, be careful." Zuko said as Iroh let him go off the hug. "Take this, you forgot it the last time you were here." Iroh said as he holds out a blue mask, Zuko smiles at the sight and takes the mask from Iroh with his right hand while carefully holding Ren in his left. "Thank you, uncle." Zuko says, after a final hug Aang, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka leave the ship and start heading back to the lake where they left Appa.

"I am so proud of you." Iroh whispered to himself as he saw Zuko and his friends disappear in the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as you have probably seen by the change of the title I have decided with your help to split this story into 3 books just like the tv show is. (Maybe more than 3 if I come up with a new storyline after the original one if you guys would be interested in that)
> 
> Also, you would probably have noticed that I am skipping some episodes or changing them up a lot, I am doing this because this is Zuko's story, not Aang's and I feel it would play out differently for Zuko. If episodes are skipped or the events aren't mentioned it is not because I 'don't like the episode' or because I think 'the episode isn't important', it is because I think that part of the story would have been different in Zuko's story, I am sorry if this upsets you but I would feel like it would become a boring story if I blatantly took the plot of the tv show and replaced Aang with Zuko.
> 
> I want to thank you all so much for your love and support, it gives me so much motivation.
> 
> I hope you all stay safe.


	13. Chapter12 ~ Jet

"Zuko this sword is amazing." Sokka said as he walks into the clearing where the group had camped that night, admiring the sword Zuko had given him the previous night. "I'm happy you like it." Zuko states as he turns to look if he could still see Momo was is chasing a bug through the trees, he couldn't.

"Where's Momo?" Aang asks but before Zuko could tell him the lemur was chasing a bug they heard Momo's screeches. "He went that way." Zuko said as he pointed to the direction where he has seen Momo going. They run in the direction Momo was going when Aang spotted three animals in cage traps hanging by a rope on tree limbs, one of them was Momo.

"Hang on, Momo!" Aang yells as he uses his airbending to fly to the top of the tree, jumping from trunk-to-trunk to get higher. He finds the traps' mechanisms, undoes them, and carefully lowers Momo to the ground where Zuko, Katara, and Sokka are waiting. They open the trap and the lemur runs out with one of the lychee nuts in his mouth. When Aang lands, he looks up to see the other two animals seemingly crying out to him for help.

"All right, I'll help you too." Aang says as he jumps up to make his way towards the cages again. "This is gonna take forever." Sokka says, he throws his boomerang to simply cut the animals free. "That works." Aang states when he's halfway up the tree and sees the two cages falling down.

The cages are opened by Sokka, the hog monkeys get out and run up the tree and out of view. Aang jumps back down, dirt flying from the ground as he lands. They all gather around two of the traps and Zuko kneels down to examine them. "These are Fire Nation traps, you can tell from the metalwork. We better pack up camp and get moving." Zuko states and they head back to their camp and start to pack.

"Uh uh. No flying this time." Sokka says when he sees Aang bringing his and Zuko's blanket towards Appa. "What? Why wouldn't we fly?" Aang asks confused. " Think about it: Somehow General Iroh, Zhao, and the Fire Nation keep finding us. It's because they spot Appa, he's just too noticeable." Sokka explains while giving Zuko a knowing look, he now knows Iroh is only following him now so Zhao will still think Iroh doesn't know about Zuko's status as the avatar.

"What? Appa's not too noticeable!" Aang exclaims in Appa's defense. "He's a gigantic fluffy monster with an arrow on his head! It's kinda hard to miss him!" Sokka states while Pointing dramatically at Appa, Aang walks over toward the flying bison and places his hand on Appa's nose.

"Sokka's just jealous 'cause he doesn't have an arrow." Aang quietly says to Appa, not wanting him to get upset about what Sokka said. "I know you all wanna fly, but my instincts tell me we should play it safe this time and walk." Sokka explains as Koji slowly walks over towards the group and rubs his head against Zuko's leg who places his hand upon his animal guide in response. 

"Who made you the boss?" Katara asks as she leans toward her brother and smiles. "I'm not the boss, I'm the leader." Sokka replies as he points his finger at his chest. "You're the leader? But your voice still cracks!" Katara shoots back, amused. "I'm the oldest, and I'm a warrior, so I'm the leader!" Sokka exclaims as he deepens his voice, giving Zuko a quick glance.

"If anyone's the leader, it's Zuko. I mean he is the Avatar. And actually he is also older than you." Katara states, enjoying Sokka's reaction. "Sokka is right." Zuko cuts in and Katara looks at him in surprise. "We probably have a better chance of slipping past the people who placed those traps unnoticed on foot than we do f we fly, a good leader trusts his instincts and I think we should trust Sokka's." Zuko explains and Sokka looks at him with a grateful smile, this was the first time anyone ever backed one of his ideas up and he was happy Zuko did it.

"Okay, we'll try it your way, oh wise leader." Katara says sarcastically to Sokka, not questioning Zuko's judgment. "Who knows? Walking might be fun." Aang says as he grabs a backpack and slings it over his shoulder.

Between trees, the group trudges along, with Sokka in front, followed by Zuko, who had Ren tucked away in his shirt, and Koji, behind them where Aang and Momo, Katara, and Appa. "Walking stinks! How do people go anywhere without a flying bison?" Aang says after they've been walking for a while. "Well, I don't know, Aang. Why don't you ask Sokka's instincts? They seem to know everything." Katara responds sarcastically, Sokka ignored her comment.

"I'm tired of carrying this pack." Aang complained with a sigh. "You know who you should ask to carry it for a while? Sokka's instincts." Katara jokes again, Sokka's eyes turn to her in irritation. "That's a great idea. Hey, Sokka's instincts, would you mind-" Aang started but was cut off.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Look, guys, I'm tired too. But the important thing is that we're safe from the"Sokka said but stopped when he walks through a bush and sees a Fire Nation campsite with a lot of soldiers; most of them are seated or crouched near the fire with bowls in hand and a couple of them sit close to the tents, which have the Fire Nation emblem on the door flap. "Fire ... Nation." Sokka slowly said, finishing his sentence. The soldiers all notice the group and get up.

"Run!" Sokka yells, they turn to run but a firebender blocks them off by setting the plants behind them on fire. "If you let us pass, we promise not to hurt you." Sokka states. "What are you doing?" Katara asks in a whisper, leaning closer to him. "Bluffing?" Sokka whispers back.

"You promise not to hurt us?" The soldier asks before he is somehow knocked out. "Nice work, Sokka! How'd you do that?" Aang asked, sounding impressed. "Uh, instinct?" Sokka replied, not really sure himself what just happened. 

"Look!" Zuko says as he points up at a tree, in the tree, a man with hook swords, jumps and takes down two soldiers. He runs forward and takes down two more using his hook swords. "Down you go." The boy says and takes down a different soldier who is charging at him.

"They're in the trees!" points a fire nation soldier out, a young boy lands on top of the soldier and turns his helmet around to blind him, before riding him around while laughing. Another boy launches arrows at the soldiers while more boys come out of the trees. Aang and Katara start fighting the soldiers using bending while Zuko pulls out his swords to attack. Sokka holds up the sword Zuko got him and yells as one soldier approaches him, but stops when the boy with the hook swords takes him down first.

"Hey, he was mine!" Sokka says, disappointed he didn't get to take the soldier down to show off his skills. "Gotta be quicker next time." The boy responds and turns around to face another incoming attack. A huge boy falls out of the trees and easily takes down two soldiers as the other boy skillfully takes down one more, causing this soldier's weapon to hit another soldier, who was going to battle Sokka, in the head, making that soldier also fall down.

"Man!" Sokka yells angrily, he looks around to see a now-empty camp. "You just took out a whole army almost single-handed." Aang tells the boy with the hook swords, it's easy to see the Airbender is amazed. "Army? There were only like, twenty guys." Sokka says disdainfully.

"My name is Jet, and these are my Freedom Fighters, Sneers, Longshot, Smellerbee, The Duke, and Pipsqueak." The boy with the hook swords introduced and Aang starts laughing. "Ha, ha, Pipsqueak, that's a funny name." Aang laughs as he looks at a small boy who is part of the 'freedom fighters' as Jet called them. "You think my name is funny?" The largest member of the group asks in a low, growling tone of voice while looming over Aang.

"It's hilarious!" Aang responds in an upbeat tone. Pipsqueak suddenly starts laughing, Aang and The Duke following suit. Pipsqueak pats the Airbender on the back in a friendly manner, though the hit was hard enough to knock Aang flat on the ground. The Duke stops laughing and looks down at Aang sprawled on the ground before his feet, face flat in the dirt, though when Aang raises his head and continues laughing, so does The Duke.

"Stop laughing, we can't trust them." Jet orders while eyeing Zuko suspiciously, Pipsqueak and The Duke quickly obey. "And why do you think you can't trust us?" Sokka asked and stands in front of Zuko when he notices the way Jet stares at him. "Because you are traveling with a member of the fire nation!" Jet exclaims while he points at Zuko but is quickly taken aback when he hears a low growl and an armadillo comes to stand next to the avatar.

"He is only half fire nation, his mother was watertribe and she raised him on the south pole. He never met a member of the fire nation except for when he's fighting them. I'm Sokka, that's my sister Katara, the bald one is Aang and the one you just accused of being fire nation is Kaito." Sokka explained without having to think about, so what if he had taken his time to think of a fake back story and fake name for Zuko? 

"Yeah, Kaito was raised alongside us in the south pole. Our mothers were good friends." Katara states, quickly stepping in to back Sokka up in his lie. "All right, I believe you." Jet says with a sigh and gives Katara a smile. The freedom fighters start raiding the camp and Zuko walks up to Sokka and pulls him to the side.

"How did you come up with that so quick? Why the fake name?" Zuko whispered as he looked behind them quickly to see Katara swooning over Jet. "I gave it some thought so we wouldn't have the problem of coming up with it on the spot. Zhao has every fire nation soldier on the lookout for you so telling him your name, which is obviously a fire nation name by the way, would be a stupid move." Sokka whispered the explanation and Zuko gave him an understanding nod, the two quickly make their way back to the group as not to raise suspicion.

"You guys have a hideout?" Aang asked as Sokka and Zuko rejoined the group, nobody has noticed their absence. "You wanna see it?" Jet asked, getting confused looks from his freedom fighters. "Yes, we wanna see it!" Katara says excitedly while she looks at Jet.

After finding a safe spot for Appa and Koji to hide until they return, Jet leads them towards their hideout. "We're here." Jet says when he stops in the middle of the forest, nothing but trees in sight. "Where? There's nothing here." Sokka says as he looks around but he doesn't see a hideout, he only sees some ropes hanging from the trees.

"Hold this." Jet says as he hands Sokka one of the ropes, Sokka takes it and looks at the rope in his hand, not sure what to do with it. "Why? What's this do?" Sokka asked skeptically but screams as he is suddenly pulled up into the branches. 

"Aang?" Jet Asks as he offers Aang another rope. "I'll get up on my own." Aang responds and Leaps up into the trees with airbending. "Well, then this one is for you, Kaito." Jet says and hands Zuko the rope, Zuko takes it and places his other hand on Ren who is still snuggled up in his shirt to make sure he doesn't fall. Zuko is pulled up by the ropes but it looks really graceful Jet notices, nobody notices Jet's eyes darkening in some sort of lust as he looks at Zuko.

"Grab hold of me, Katara" Jet says, quickly snapping out of it. Katara blushes as she takes his hand and they rise up through the tree, they come to a landing on a wooden platform in the trees. Once up there, Aang is zip-lining through the trees while Sokka is showing Zuko a scratch he got from one of the branches. 

"Nice place you got!" Aang says while passing through with Momo. "It's beautiful up here!" Katara exclaims as she looks around in admiration. "It's beautiful ... and more importantly the Fire Nation can't find us." Jet states as Smellerbee lands near them.

"They would love to find you. Wouldn't they, Jet?" Smellerbee said while giving Jet a cheeky wink. "Why does the Fire Nation want to find you?" Zuko asks, wanting to know if they actually did something wrong. "I guess you could say I've been causing them a little trouble. See, they took over a nearby Earth Kingdom town a few years back." Jet explained.

"We've been ambushin' their troops, cutting off their supply lines, and doing anything we can to mess with 'em." Pipsqueak said as he walked past Sokka who was finally done complaining about his scratch. "One day, we'll drive the Fire Nation out of here for good and free that town." Jet said as he shot a look at Zuko to see how he reacted to this, he didn't.

"That's so brave." Katara said admiringly. "Yeah, nothing's braver than a guy in a treehouse." Sokka says sarcastically as he places his hand on Zuko's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze to tell him what the fire nation did wasn't his fault. Sokka pulled Zuko away towards where Aang was talking with Longshot and The Duke when he heard Katara and Jet talking about what the fire nation did to the freedom fighters towns and families.

The day passes by and the evening arrives, sentries keep watch on several upper platforms while the group sits at a banquet table. While the group eats, Jet stands on the table.

"Today, we struck another blow against the Fire Nation swine. I got a special joy from the look on one soldier's face, when The Duke dropped down on his helmet and rode him like a wild hog monkey. Now, the Fire Nation thinks they don't have to worry about a couple of kids hiding in the trees. Maybe they're right. Or maybe ... they're dead wrong." Jet said while the freedom fighters kept cheering him on. 

Sokka noticed the look of guilt in Zuko's eyes so he put his hand on Zuko's leg under the table to comfort him when Zuko looked at him in surprise, Sokka looks at Jet as to tell Zuko he can't see Zuko being upset about this. Zuko gives a small nod and slowly places his hand on top of Sokka's as a way to tell him thank you and Sokka sees Zuko calm down, what he doesn't see is the blush adorning the avatar's cheeks. 

"Hey Jet, nice speech." Katara states when Jet gets down from the table and sits down next to her. "Thanks. By the way, I was really impressed with you and Aang. That was some great bending I saw out there today. I also noticed Kaito is a master with his swords" Jets says with a cheeky smile. "Well, Aang's great, and Kaito is actually a bender too." Katara said and immediately regretted telling Jet Zuko is a bender.

"A bender huh? Very nice, fire or water?" Jet asks as he looks at Zuko and quickly looks back to Katara, she looks confused but then remembers they told him Zuko is half fire nation half water tribe. "Water, but he doesn't care much for it. He prefers his swords." Katara said because she didn't think Jet would take it well if she said Zuko was a firebender, the sword thing she said so Jet wouldn't wonder why Zuko didn't bend during the fight.

"So I might know a way that you and Kaito can help in our struggle." Jet states and Katara looks at him in surprise. "Unfortunately, we have to leave tonight." Sokka said as he stands up, feeling a bit sad at the loss of Zuko's hand on his.

"Sokka, you're kidding me! I needed you on an important mission tomorrow." Jet says and Sokka gives in, wanting to feel useful for a change. They are given a hut to sleep in but Aang decides to look around for a bit while Sokka, Katara, and Zuko decide to call it a night. 

"Jet why do you keep flirting with that water tribe girl?" Smellerbee asks when the small group of friends left for their hut. "You see how easy she is, besides we need her to help us with that village." Jet explained. "You don't like her, I can see by the way you look at her." Smellerbee sai, not liking what Jet is doing. 

"No he likes the boy, he keeps glancing at him with lust in his eyes. I know that you are interested in Kaito, why don't you just go for it?" Pipsqueak said as he stairs into the night sky through the trees. "Who likes Kaito?" Aang asks from behind, just hearing the last part of Pipsqueak's sentence.

"Smellerbee is. She really likes him" Jet quickly said because he didn't want Aang to figure out he's just using Katara, Aang starts laughing at this. "What's so funny?" Smellebee asked defensively.

"Kaito is gay"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was actually going to put the Jet episode in 1 chapter but it got so long that I really had to split it into two chapters. I know this chapter follows the episode a lot but the next chapter will change a lot of things, I promise.
> 
> Also, the next chapter some really important things will happen so I hope you look forward to it.
> 
> I hope you like it and thank you for all the love this story is getting.


	14. Chapter 13 ~Believe me

That morning Jet had told Katara that he needed Zuko and her to use waterbending for so she could focus on teaching Zuko the right technique for what needs to be done, Jet said he needed them to help to get water out of the geysers so they could fill the reservoir. Katara assured him this was something she knew how to do and would be able to teach it to Zuko, soon after Sokka and Jet left with a few of the other freedom fighters to go on their 'important mission' as Jet had called it the previous night.

"All right. Time to practice waterbending." Aang says excitedly when Katara, Zuko and he arrive at the river early in the morning, Aang had insisted n going along because he is already teaching Zuko how to airbend so he thought he might be able to help with water bending too.

"This is a pretty basic move but it still took me months to perfect. So don't get frustrated if you don't get it right away." Katara tells Zuko as she moves her hands back and forth and makes small waves in the water, while Aang looks at Katara with a bright smile on his face.

"Just push and pull the water like this. The key is getting the wrist movement right." Katara explained while Zuko focusses on the movement she was doing.

"Like this?" Zuko asked as he copies the hand movements Katara is doing, but nothing is happening yet. Aang smiles at Zuko and puts his thumbs up as a way to tell Zuko he was doing good.

"That's almost right. If you keep practicing I'm sure eventually—"

"Hey, he's bending it already!" Aang states as he sees Zuko making waves that are slightly bigger than Katara's, Zuko smiles when he hears the pride in Aang's voice.

"Wow, I can't believe you got that so quickly. It took me two months to learn that move, I thought since you already know how to bend two other elements this would be easier for you than it was for me but I wasn't expecting it to be this fast." Katara says surprised.

"Well, you had to figure it all on your own. I'm lucky enough to have a great teacher. I was a terrible firebender if that helps, it took me years to even learn the basics" Zuko says as he notices the disappointment in Katara, it was clear to Zuko it was hard for her to watch him get this so quick while it took her moths.

"Thanks." Katara says with a genuine smile, it helped her feel better, knowing bending hasn't always come easy to Zuko. They practiced the push and pull technique for a while until Katara was satisfied with both her and Zuko's waves.

"Hey, Sokka" Aang says when he notices the water tribe boy storming up to the drive, Ren in his hands. The turtleduck had taken a likening towards Sokka so that morning he had snuggled up in Sokka's tunic instead of Zuko's.

"Is Jet back?" Katara asks excitedly when she stops waterbending, Zuko stopped when she did as well.

"Yeah, he's back. But we're leaving." Sokka states once he stops next to the river and hands Ren over to Zuko.

"What? Sokka we can't leave, we promised to help Jet." Katara says with annoyance, why would they leave now? They can't just let Jet do this alone.

"Your boyfriend Jet's a thug." Sokka says with anger in his voice and Katara rolls her eyes at him, when would Sokka stop acting this way?

"What? No, he's not." Katara says, defending Jet. Zuko felt bad for Sokka that his sister is not even trying to listen to him.

"He's messed up Katara." Sokka states as he glares at his sister who clearly doesn'care what he says about Jet because in her eyes Jet could do no wrong.

"He's not messed up, he's just got a different way of life, a really fun way of life." Aang says, trying to lift the mood while Zuko waiits for Sokka to explain what Jet did before speaking up.

"He beat and robbed a harmless old man!" Sokka yelled in reply, hating how both Aang and Katara were both defending Jet instead of listening to him.

"I wanna hear Jet's side of the story." Katara says and walks away, Aang quickly following after her. Zuko put a comforting hand on Sokka's shouler and leads the boy with him, back to the hide out.

"Sokka, you told them what happened, but you didn't mention that the guy was Fire Nation?" Jet asked when Sokka and Zuko entered the room, Aang and Katara where allready there and they clearly told him what Sokka had said.

"No, he conveniently left that part out." Katara says as she turns to face her older brother, shooting him a glare when she does.

"Fine! But even if he was Fire Nation, he was a harmless civilian!" Sokka says, defending himself not only against Jet but Katara as well.

"He was an assassin, Sokka." Jet states as he pulls out a knife and thrusts it into a nearby stump. It is a sinister looking curved blade. There are four spikes evenly spaced along the grip, with enough space for fingers to go between them. There is a ring on the butt of the knife.

"See? There's a compartment for poison in the knife. He was sent to eliminate me; you helped save my life, Sokka." Jet states as he pulls on the ring and removes a small glass tube filled with red liquid, showing it to Katara, Sokka, Aang, and Zuko.

"I knew there was an explanation." Katara tells Sokka mockingly, stepping closer towards Jet.

"I didn't see any knife!" Sokka exclaims, not trusting a word Jet said, he knew for sure the man did not have a knife.

"That's because he was concealing it." Jet explains while he looks at Zuko, hoping to see what he was thinking but the boy hid his emotions well.

"See, Sokka? I'm sure you just didn't notice the knife." Katara tells her brother, not believing what Sokka was saying.

"There was no knife! I'm going back to the hut and packing my things." Sokka yells and stomps away, Zuko follows soon after him, never speaking his thoughts.

"Sokka wait." Zuko says as he follows Sokka into their hut and sees the water tribe boy is already packing up his stuff.

"Why? Nobody believes me, everyone thinks I'm defending a fire nation assassin!" Sokka exclaims as he stops packing and turns to face Zuko, who is watching him with concern.

"I believe you, Sokka if you say there was no knife than there was no knife. If you think Jet is up to no good I believe you." Zuko states as he slowly approaches the distressed water tribe boy.

"Why? There is no way for me to prove Jet is lying. Why would you believe me if I can't prove to you I'm telling the truth?" Sokka asks as tears start forming in his eyes, why would Zuko believe him if his own sister couldn't even do that.

"As I told you before, I trust your instincts. you don't need to prove anything to me because I trust you Sokka, you're the smartest and bravest person I know. Please just know that no matter what Aang or Katara think, I'll always be on your side." Zuko explains as he places his hand on Sokka's cheek and uses his thumb to brush away the tear that was rolling down Sokka's cheek.

Sokka looks up at Zuko's eyes and sees the admiration within the gold eyes looking back at him and he can't help himself, without thinking Sokka leans in and captures Zuko's lips with his own. Zuko's eyes widen in shock but he slowly closes them and deepens the kiss. Something inside Zuo clicked in place, he knew he felt a different connection to Sokka than he did to Aang but when Sokka put his lips on his Zuko finally understood why. After a couple of seconds, Sokka pulls away and looks at Zuko with fear in his eyes.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that, I should have asked if I could kiss you. Your probably angry I mean why would you want to kiss me, I'm not a girl." Sokka rambles while pacing the room, not noticing the fond smile on Zuko's face.

"Sokka it's okay, I'm gay. I liked the kiss ........... I like you." Zuko says while he starts the blush and Sokka looks at him in surprise.

"Really? Because I've been wanting to do that for a couple of weeks now. Isn't being gay illegal in the fire nation?" Sokka rattles out, not breathing once.

"Yeah it really is okay, it was a great kiss. It isn't illegal to be gay but it is illegal to marry someone of the same sex, but the fire nation has a slave culture so most high ranking citizens who are gay marry someone of different sex and just get a slave of the same sex as them. It's disgusting, I know." Zuko explains as he sits down on the floor.

"It's not your fault. So what does this kiss mean for us." Sokka says while trying to change the subject when he sees the guilt on Zuko's face, sitting down in front of the prince.

"I'm not sure but I would like to do it again." Zuko says quietly, hoping Sokka didn't hear him so he wouldn't be embarrassed if the water tribe boy doesn't feel the same.

"Zuko I have been wanting to do this ever since I met you and I would like to kiss you again and see where things are going, do you think you ............. maybe want to be my boyfriend?" Sokka replies while he takes Zuko's hands in his, blue eyes locking on gold eyes.

"I do." Zuko states with determination in his voice, he didn't know many things but he knew for certain he wanted to do this, he wanted to be with Sokka.

Sokka looked at Zuko with admiration as he pulls the firebender into a deep kiss, Sokka never thought he would tell Zuko how he felt but when Zuko believed him and stood by him when no one else would his emotions got the better of him and he just couldn't do anything but kiss him and he is glad he did.

"So what do you want to do now? If you want to leave we'll leave but maybe we can prove that you're telling the truth." Zuko says once the kiss had ended, he knew it would make Sokka feel better if Aang and Katara believed him.

"How do you think we could do that?" Sokka asks as he rubs his thumb over Zuko's knuckles as a way to calm himself down.

"Well Jet won't trust you but I haven't made my thoughts on this clear so I could try to get closer to Jet and see what he tells me or if I can find something out." Zuko explains even though he doesn't like to be near Jet he would do this for Sokka. He had noticed the glances Jet had been throwing his way and he had started feeling really uncomfortable around Jet.

"You followed me when I left, why would Jet even believe you if you say you believe he is telling the truth?" Sokka asks, knowing Zuko leaving would make it look like Zuko was on Sokka's side.

"I'll say I gave you a piece of my mind and persuaded you to stay if you play along they'll believe us." Zuko explains and he sees Sokka smile a bit, this could actually work, Sokka thought.

"Yeah, you're right. We can pull this of and figure out what Jett is planning. Thank you for believing in me." Sokka says as he pulls Zuko into a tight hug.

"Look I know it's hard that Katara and Aang are on Jet's side but Katara is fourteen and met a boy who she's swooning over so in her eyes he can do nothing wrong, and Aang likes Katara so she is doing whatever makes her happy. Besides considering the way you treated Aang when you first met him you can't blame him for trusting Katara over you." Zuko stated as he hugs Sokka back.

"I was a jerk I know. But why don't you believe Jet as they do?" Sokka asks Zuko as they let go of each other.

"Well first because I'm older so I know not to trust someone just because they have a pretty face, second because I pay attention to things nobody else does so I knew from the start there was something off about him and third because I know you Sokka." Zuko explained as he quickly pecks Sokka's lips.

"You are amazing Zuko, don't ever Change."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know I said I was splitting Jet episode into two parts but it will be three parts because the chapters were getting too long but the last part of the Jet episode will be up by the end of this week.
> 
> thank you for all the support I got considering my last rant ( which I will delete soon.) Once I told the person who stole my story that I reported it to Wattpad they messaged me how sorry they were and deleted the story, they came up with a bunch of bullshit excuses but there's nothing I can do about that. They didn't react when I said I WOULD report them they only responded when I said I did report them. It still really upset me that they did it but luckily the story is deleted but I will keep a look on their profile to make sure they don't do it again.
> 
> If you ever see anyone use my content on here, Wattpad, etc. please let me know so I can try to do something about it.
> 
> Thank you all so much for the support, I love you all.


	15. Chapter 14 ~ The avatar State

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I actually wanted to have this chapter up yesterday but it turned out to be longer than I planned it to be so enjoy an extra long chapter :)

"We're Staying." Zuko announced as he entered the hut where he left Aang, Katara, and Jet after Sokka's outburst. Sokka and Zuko had decided it was more believable if Sokka stayed back and pretended to be angry they were staying.

"And Sokka is okay with that?" Aang asked with hope in his voice, he never wanted to upset Sokka but he also wanted Katara to know he supported her. Aang didn't really know if Sokka was telling the truth or if Jet was but if Katara is so sure about Jet who was he to doubt her opinion.

"Not really but I told him that if he wanted to go he could head back to Appa and Koji and stay with them until we're done here tomorrow, after grumbling around for a while he decided it was better to stay." Zuko explained while he tried not to look at Jet, whose eyes have been trained on him since the moment he entered the hut.

"Thank you Kaito, I don't know what I would do without you and Katara tomorrow." Jet said as he got up and put his hand on Zuko's shoulder, squeezing it. Zuko slowly met Jet's eyes and he noticed Jet's eyes darkening when he did.

"What are we doing exactly?" Zuko asks, he knows that Katara and he are supposed to move the water from the geysers to the reservoir but he doesn't know why Jet needs them to fill the reservoir.

"The Fire Nation is planning on burning down our forest. If you both use waterbending to fill the reservoir, we could fight the fires." Jet explained as he slowly lets his hand glide down from Zuko's shoulder and slides it down to the avatar's lower back.

"And what are you planning to do after we've left?" Zuko asks as he moves to stand next to Aang, trying to act as natural as he can while he moves away from Jet's hand as quickly as possible.

"I'll tell you tomorrow after the job is done." Jet said with a slight smirk on his face as his eyes lock onto Zuko's body again, quickly leaving the hut after giving Zuko a dark smile.

"Do you think we should practice your waterbending some more Zuko?" Katara asks while she gives Zuko a kind smile, she clearly didn't notice the way Jet acted towards Zuko.

"No, I think I'm good. I'll go check on Sokka." Zuko replies as he leaves and makes his way towards their hut where he left Sokka a while ago.

"How did it go?" Sokka asks as Zuko entered and without saying anything Zuko crossed the room with record speed and pulls Sokka into a tight hug, after Sokka registered it he wrapped his arms around the young avatar just as tightly.

"I 'm sorry Sokka, I can't do it. I can't get closer to Jet to see what he's up to. He was acting so different towards me, he kept creepily looking at me and at some point, he put his hand on my shoulder and slowly moved it to my lower back. If I hadn't moved away I'm sure he would have tried to touch my butt as well" Zuko rambles as the event kept replaying in his head, Sokka only holds him tighter as his heart breaks by the fear in Zuko's voice.

"It's okay, I would never ask you to do this Zuko. I'm sorry he did that, I should've come with you." Sokka said as he moved Zuko out of the hug and looked into his golden tear-filled eyes, Sokka had never seen the firebender like this.

"If you were there they probably wouldn't have believed me. I'm so sorry, we'll never prove Jet's up to something now." Zuko said softly as he wipes the tears from his eyes, Sokka guided Zuko over to his bedroll and sat him down on it.

"You have nothing to be sorry about Zuko. I'll stay up all night and try to eavesdrop on them if I hear them leave I'll follow them, don't worry if I'm not here when you wake up it just means they left as well. Just go along with whatever Jet wants you and Katara to do until I return" Sokka replied as he wrapped his arm around Zuko's shoulder as he sat beside him.

"Allright, be careful Sokka." Zuko whispered as he rests his head on Sokka's shoulder, Sokka smiles fondly at his boyfriend's action.

"I will be, I promise." Sokka whispered back as he presses a kiss into Zuko's dark hair.

That night Sokka sits propped up against his the gear he packed so it looked like he actually was going to leave before Zuko talked to him while Katara sleeps in her sleeping bag and Aang and Zuko slept under Aang's blanket. Sokka hears noises outside so he gets up and pulls the door flap aside enough to see some of Jet's freedom fighters descending on the rope lines. Sokka slowly follows them and grabs a rope line down to a lower branch. On the ground below him, Jet's Freedom Fighters are quietly pushing the loaded wagon as Jet leads them out of the camp. Sokka stealthily follows them into the dark valley, all the way to a cliff where Sokka was slightly in front of them and he noticed a man-made dam. Sokka quickly hid behind a bush as Jet and his freedom fighters emerge from the forest. 

"Now listen, you are not to blow the dam until I give the signal. If the reservoir isn't full, the Fire Nation troops could survive." Jet states as he turns to face the freedom fighters, Sokka is shocked, why would they blow up the dam?

"But what about the people in the town, won't they get wiped out too?" The Duke asks as he jumps off the wagon, Jet walks closer and places a hand on The Duke's shoulder.

"Look, Duke, that's the price of ridding this area of the Fire Nation. Now don't blow the dam until I give the signal—got it?" Jet said, the last part was directed at Longshot, and Longshot nods in understanding. Sokka watches incredulously from the bushes. He frowns and hears rustling just before Pipsqueak drags him out by his wolf-tail. Smellerbee's knife is instantly at his throat.

"Where do you think you're going, ponytail?" Smellerbee sneers. Jet stands near the edge of the cliff as he watches Pipsqueak and Smellerbee drag Sokka between them, Pipsqueak still has a handful of Sokka's wolf-tail.

"Sokka, I'm glad you decided to join us." Jet exclaims as Pipsqueak and Smellerbee send Sokka to his knees in front of their leader, Sokka looks up and glares at him

That morning Zuko woke up when Jet entered their hut to tell them it was time. Zuko looked around and noticed Sokka wasn't there, he hoped Sokka would return soon with proof against Jet. Aang and Zuko silently followed Katara and Jet as they made their way to the river, Katara and Jet were chatting the whole way there.

"All right, we're here. Underground water's trying to escape through these vents. I need you guys to help it along." Jet explains when they arrived, Katara looks a bit taken back.

"I've never used bending on water I can't see. I don't know ..." Katara says and Zuko wondered why she was so uncertain of her abilities all of a sudden.

"Katara. You can do this." Jet says as he stands behind her and places his hands on her shoulders, Zuko really hates the way Jet is playing with her feelings.

"What about Kaito?" Aang asks as he walks up to Katara and Jet, not liking how focussed Jet is on Katara.

"I know Kaito can do this." Jet states with certainty in his voice. Zuko and Katara stand on one of the many geysers in the gully. While Jet and Aang look on, they bend the water up. After a few minutes, a stream of water emerges from the hole. They pull it to their height and send it toward the river where it continues to flow like a waterfall. The water quickly joins the river.

"Yes! Good job! This river empties into the reservoir--a few more geysers and it'll be full." Jet said as he looked at Zuko with amazement in his eyes, the only thought Jet had was that he just had to have this boy all for himself.

"Look, there's another steam vent." Aang says excitedly as he points at it, Aang, Zuko, and Katara walk-off in its direction.

"Okay. You two keep it up, I'll go check on things at the reservoir." Jet said as he turned around and started to walk away, smirking because his plan was working.

"When we're done we'll meet you over there." Katara replied happily, she was so glad she could help Jet. Zuko had noticed when it came to Jet Katara was oblivious, how did she not see he was just using her?

"Actually ... probably better if you meet me back at the hideout when you're done." Jet says as he resumes walking away Zuko and Katara bend the next geyser into another fountain. Zuko and Katara continued to do this until they were finally at the last geyser, Aang looked on proudly.

"I bet that's enough, and I'm not just saying that to be lazy." Zuko says, around them, over a dozen geysers flow into the river.

"Let's catch up with Jet at the reservoir." Katara says excitedly as she starts walking in the same direction Jet did, Zuko and Aang looked at each other in surprise and followed her. 

"I thought we agreed to meet Jet back at the hideout." Zuko said as they kept walking, he just wanted to go look for Sokka who still hadn't returned.

"Well, we finished early. I'm sure he'll be happy to see us." Katara responds as they walk up to the cliff where they spot the dam, at the base of the dam four of Jet's freedom fighters are unloading barrels from the wagon and arranging them.

"What are they doing?" Katara asks while she looks on in confusion, not sure what's going on.

"Hey, those are the red barrels he got from the Fire Nation." Aang pointed out and he was right, that's when it Zuko understood.

"Why would they need blasting jelly?" Katara asks, her mind can't come up with something that isn't bad but she knows Jet would never do something like that.

"Because Jet's gonna blow up the dam." Zuko states and Aang looks horrified because he knows Zuko is right, Katara looks at him in disbelieve.

"What? No, that would destroy the town. Jet wouldn't do that." Katara Says as Aang opens his glider and takes off, before Aang can reach the edge, Jet crosses his path from behind and snatches the glider. Aang is left wobbling precariously on the edge and uses airbending to get himself back on stable footing.

"Yes, I would." Jet confirms as he moves closer towards Katara and Zuko. Zuko scans over their surroundings and he notices Sokka is nowhere in sight, his stomach drops as he realizes something went wrong.

"Jet, why?" Katara asks as she slowly moves back, subconsciously moving towards Zuko for protection.

"Katara, you would too if you just stopped to think. Think about what the Fire Nation did to your mother, we can't let them do that to anyone else, ever again." Jet says as he approaches her.

"This isn't the answer!" Zuko said as he pushes Katara behind him and steps protectively in front of her.

"I want you to understand me Kaito. I thought Sokka would understand, but—" Jet said but when he mentions Sokka Zuko cuts him off as tears form into Katara's eyes.

"Where's Sokka?" Zuko asks in fear for what happened to his boyfriend, Jet reaches out and touches his face. Before Zuko could move away Katara pushed him away from Jet, she lowers her head, and with a shout, sends Jet flying with the water from her waterskin. She draws it back into the skin when she's done.

"What was the plan Jet? What were you going to do after you blew up the village?" Zuko asked as Jet got back up, slowly making his way towards Zuko in a predatory way.

"I was actually on my way to pick you up and we would be off to kill the fire nation's royal family." Jet explained as he kept coming closer, the way Jet talked was scary and the way he looked at Zuko only made it worse.

"what do you mean? Why would you think I would come with you?" Zuko asks while he takes a step back, Aang quickly comes closer and stands beside his friend to protect him.

"Of course I know you wouldn't come willingly, but I always get what I want, and right now that's you. If you come with me without a struggle I won't hurt Katara and Aang." Jet states as he keeps coming closer before Jet can take more than a step however, he is hit by a large water strike. Katara steps in front of Zuko as she uses water from the river to throw Jet against the trunk of the tree. Over and over she attacks, Jet is unable to cut the water and its force plasters him against the trunk. She freezes Jet from toe to neck.

"Why, Jet? I can't believe I trusted you. You lied to me, you're sick and I trusted you!" Katara yells as she places herself between Jet and Zuko so Jet couldn't see the firebender anymore. A birdcall is heard and Katara, Zuko, and Aang look startled to the valley beyond where it's coming from. Jet gives an answering birdcall.

"You're too late." Jet says with an evil smirk on his face, he was proud of what he did. The center of the dam explodes in a cloud of smoke and fire. Katara and Aang watch a massive wall of water go to the town. 

"Now we can finally focus on getting rid of the royal family, I heard prince Zuko and general Iroh are have left the fire nation so they should be easy to kill. Luckily we don't have to worry about their weak useless prince who perished at the siege of Ba Sing Se or the fire lord's whore wife!" Jet exclaimed and you could see the excitement in his eyes.

Suddenly, Zuko's scar begins to glow a bluish-white, his eyes glowing in the same color. A whirlwind begins to form at Zuko's feet, the wind quickly kicks up and forms a sphere around Zuko, his eyes and scar still glowing brightly.

"What the hell is happening to him?" Katara asks Aang as she takes in Zuko with big eyes, slightly scared by the power coming from him.

"I think this is his avatar spirit, Jet must have triggered it by the way he talked about Zuko's family!" Aang explained, the air sphere has expanded to a raging tornado with Zuko in its center.

"What happened?" Sokka yelled as he runs up to them, Katara and Aang don't ask where he was since there is something more important at the moment than Sokka's whereabouts.

"Jet said some horrible things about Zuko's mom and his cousin Lu Ten, they were two of the three people who actually cared about Zuko when he still lived in the fire nation. I think he triggered the avatar state with the rage Jet's words awoke in him." Aang clarifies to Sokka who looks at Zuko with worry in his eyes.

"I'm going to try and calm him down!" Sokka stated as he raises his hand to protect himself against the winds and the flying debris, he closes an eye against the wind and starts to make his way towards Zuko. Sokka fights the storm to get to Zuko as the sphere of wind that engulfs the avatar slowly starts to rise in the air, Sokka is pushed back by the strong wind currents as the sphere ascends higher and higher.

"Zuko! I don't know what exactly happened with your mother or your cousin but I do know they both were incredible people who helped to shape you into the person you are today. I can only imagine how hard it was for you all alone in that palace after they were gone and how lonely you were back then, but you're not alone anymore. You have Iroh, you've got Aang and Katara and you have me now, we will never let anything happen to you." Sokka shouts calmly, to Sokka's surprise Zuko begins to descend. Zuko lowers himself back to the ground, the winds start to die down, and the air sphere that surrounded him disappears but his eyes and scar are still glowing bluish-white.

"I promise you will never be alone again, Zuko." Sokka states as he takes Zuko's hand into his. Sokka slowly leans forward as he gives Zuko a gentle but passionate kiss on the lips, the moment he does the glowing fades away. Zuko slants his eyes with a saddened expression before he collapses from exhaustion in Sokka's arms.

"Sokka what happened to you?" Zuko weakly asks as Katara and Aang both run up to Sokka and each stands on a different side of him.

"I followed Jet this morning and found out about his plan, he captured me but I managed to escape. I warned the villagers of Jet's plan just in time, At first, they didn't believe me. The Fire Nation soldiers assumed I was a spy, but one man vouched for me, the old man Jet attacked. He urged them to trust me, and we got everyone out in time." Sokka explained and Zuko smiled lightly at him as he slowly pulled away to stand on his own legs again.

"What the hell just happened to Kaito?" Jet, who is still pinned against the tree by ice, asked in bewilderment. Sokka supports Zuko as he approaches Jet.

"My name is Zuko. Son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai. Prince of the Fire Nation, and the avatar."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the support, I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter.


	16. Chapter 15 ~ Reunited

It was Sokka's turn to sit guard late, ever since they encountered Zhao on Kyoshi Island they decided it was best to have someone on guard duty. He has been annoyed ever since they left Jet and his freedom fighters, he and Zuko had been a couple for a few days now and he wanted to sleep next to Zuko ever since but he doesn't get the chance. He had asked Aang to take his sleeping bag so Sokka could share the blanket with Zuko but the Airbender had told him Zuko was his best friend and Sokka had no right to steal him, on Zuko's other side was Koji who is apparently really protective because he keeps either a paw or his head on Zuko's sleeping body at all times.

Sokka's head snaps up when he hears something from the bushes so he gets up and points his sword in the direction the noise came from before he can do anything he sees a dart flying his way and it hits him in his thigh. Sokka falls to the ground before he can wake his friends, it's some kind of sedative dart. Sokka manages to turn his head to the side and the last thing he sees before he blacks out is the same darts embedded in his friend's bodies.

"Sokka, wake up!" He heard Katara say before he slowly opened his eyes, he looks around and he noticed that Katara, Aang and him were locked in a cell.

"where are we? Where is Zuko? Where are Appa, Koji, Momo, and Ren?" Sokka rambled in panic, quickly getting up walking up to the bars of their small prison. He got the answer to his last question when he saw four cages from small to large on the opposite side of them with Koji, Ren, Momo, and Appa in it still knocked out.

"I don't know Sokka, what happened? weren't you the one on guard?" Aang asks with a kind voice as he approaches the watertribe boy, making sure Sokka knows he doesn't blame him for this.

"They came out of nowhere and I was hit with some sort of sedative dart before I could warn you, I never saw anyone." Sokka explained as he turned to face Katara and Aang. The three of them were startled when they hear a door open and a woman approaches their cell, she had long dark brown hair, almost black, that she wore in a braid and light brown eyes, almost gold like Zuko's but not quite the same. It was clear she was Fire nation.

"Who are you? Where is our friend?" Katara asks when the woman comes to a stop in front of their cell, in her hands, she was holding Zuko's swords, the blue mask he took from Iroh's ship and two thin golden cuffs that Zuko wore around his upper arms while he was dressed in his fire nation clothes.

"I'm the one who asks the questions here. Why does your little group have prince Zuko's belongings in your possession?" She asks with hidden anger in her voice, her grip tight on the items she was talking about.

"Isn't he allowed to have his own stuff? besides what are those cuffs anyway because I don't know what's so important about them." Sokka says, not sure why she brought those things. They knew the swords and mask were important to the young avatar but he never seemed to care much about those cuffs. 

"They are to be worn by every firebender so it is clear who can bend and who can not, every firebender wears red ones except for the royal family, they were gold ones. That was the only answer I'll give you like I said I'm the one who asks the questions here, So you are implying that the firebender you had with you s prince Zuko?" The woman responds, never once does the anger leave her voice.

"He is, what do you need him for? You seem pretty interested in him." Aang asks, not liking the woman's interest in his best friend.

"We have been looking for him for years, why we are is none of your concern, now excuse me but I'm going to talk to your friend to confirm if you're telling the truth or not." The woman said and left, leaving Sokka, Katara, and Aang alone in their cell.

"I hope Zuko is gonna be okay, I am so done with people who are trying to capture him, can't they see he's been trough enough?" Aang asks as he slides down against the wall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zuko woke up on a soft bed, he carefully sat up and looked confused around the room, it as a large bedroom. He notices he is alone and quickly goes into panic mode, where are Sokka, Katara, Aang, Koji, Appa, Ren, and Momo?

"What happened? Where am I?" He quietly asks himself, he rapidly gets into a defensive position and in walks a man who is holding clothes he recognizes as his own fire nation clothes.

"Get dressed." the man says as he drops the clothes on his bed and leaves the room, locking the door behind him. Zuko notices among the clothes were also his shoes and his gold upper arm cuffs.

Zuko quickly gets dressed into his own clothes and carefully folds the clothes Sokka gave him and places them atop of the bed, the fact that they also gave him his arm cuffs back confirms that the people who brought him here are fire nation because the other nations don't know the meaning of them.

The door opened again and this time a hooded figure walked in, because of the hood Zuko could see no facial features but when the figure stopped in front of him it was clear it was a woman. "I have some questions for you. let's start with your name." The woman said and the voice was strangely familiar to him but he couldn't quite place it.

"My name is Zuko, who are you and where are my friends?" Zuko responds, he doesn't care about what they'll do to him, he just needs his friends to be safe.

"I'm the one asking the questions here, now you'd be surprised how many people try to impersonate prince Zuko so I'm gonna need something more. What is prince Zuko's favorite place in the palace?" The stranger asks while she grabs his chin and turns his face side to side, studying it.

"The turtleduck pond, that's a weirdly specific question, you must've worked at the palace for you to know this." Zuko states, trying to figure out who this stranger is.

"Something like that, what play did lady Ursa take prince Zuko to see multiple times?" The woman asks as she lets go of Zuko's jaw, Zuko eyed her in suspicion because of the question.

"Love amongst the Dragons, why are aking questions that are all related to my mother?" Zuko asks, not trusting this stranger's knowledge of his life or his relationship with his mother.

"Final question, what was the last thing lady Ursa told you before she left?" The woman asks, ignoring the question the young avatar asked.

"She told me that everything she did was to protect me and to remember that no matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are. But that's something only me and my mother know, how would you know this?" Zuko responds and as he asks the question he realizes why her voice was so familiar.

"Because I told you this." The woman said as she slowly pulled the hood down and Zuko is met by his mother's warm and familiar eyes, his eyes fill with tears as they pull each other in a tight hug.

"What happened to you?" Ursa quietly asks when they pulled away, tears streaming down her face, Zuko slowly looks down.

"I spoke out against father." Zuko whispered as he looks back up to meets his mother's eyes again.

"I am so proud of you Zuko." Ursa said as she pulled her son into a tight hug again, she grabbed him so tight as if she was afraid he would disappear if she didn't.~

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The three of you are expected for dinner." A man said as he opened the door of the cell where Sokka, Katara, and Aang locked in. They all look at him in surprise, slowly they follow the man out of the dungeon were in.

"Please sit down, the prince and or leader will be here soon." The man said as he stopped at an empty table in some kind of canteen that was filled with a lot of tables, what surprised them was that the room wasn't only filled with members of the fire nation but there were people from the earth kingdom as well.

"Hello everybody, we have spent years looking for the banished prince of the fire nation. We knew that he would give us hope and once fire lord Ozai is dethroned he will bring us peace and today we finally did it! Please welcome Prince Zuko!" The lady who spoke to them in the dungeons yelled, Zuko stood next to her as all the people in the room started cheering.

"Sokka!" Zuko said happily as he spotted his boyfriend and other friends in the crowded room and smiled when he saw two empty spots at their table, he quickly rushed over and he pulls Sokka into a hug. Sokka sighs with relief as he tightens the hug, glad to see his boyfriend was safe and unharmed.

"Zuko what happened?" Aang asks once Sokka had let go of the firebender, Zuko sits down next to Sokka and opposite of Aang.

"Is this seat taken?" The woman who they met in the dungeon asks as she motions towards the free seat at the head of the table, Zuko waves his hand as a sign that she can sit with them.

"Sokka, Aang Katara this is my mother, Ursa. Mom this are Sokka, Katara, and Aang." Zuko says and the three of them look at Zuko and the woman with disbelieve on their faces.

"But how? You didn't even believe he actually was Zuko." Aang says with a surprised voice, he couldn't believe this was the woman Zuko had told him so many things about.

"One of my men saw your turtleduck walking through the forest and noticed my headpiece around its neck, after we ambushed you we found some of Zuko's things and I knew for sure it was him. I just had to make sure because over the years many people claimed to be him, even though he is banished he is still a prince and who wouldn't want to be just that." Ursa explained as she started eating from the bowl in front of her.

"But Zuko wasn't banished, he was imprisoned!" Katara stated, not liking the fact that to all those people Zuko had been branded as the banished prince, it made it sound like he did something bad but he only stood up for his people.

"Imprisoned? What do you mean?" Ursa asked with surprise and concern clear on her face, for three years she believed her son was out there traveling the world but now this girl tells her he was actually locked away. 

"Father shipped me off to his prison on the south pole, I was there for three years before Aang, Katar, and Sokka came to get me out." Zuko whispers quietly, he feels Sokka's comforting hand on his knee and shoots his boyfriend a grateful smile.

"What did you do? Why did he do that?" Ursa asks in concern, she fears what happened that would get Ozai to take these measures.

"Zuko spoke out of turn at a war meeting and had to fight fire lord Ozai in an Agni Kai when he went to defend himself during that Agni Kai by throwing a fireball at him, a blast of air came out instead. Ozai burned his face and then locked him away in his south pole prison." Aang explained knowing this was hard for Zuko to talk about, Zuko shot him a thankful smile.

"Wait, you blasted air at him? Does that mean......" Ursa says but she never finished her question because she gets lost by her realization.

"Yes mom, I am the avatar."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked this chapter, please let me know what you thought.
> 
> thank you for all the support this story gets.


	17. Chapter 16 ~ You can do this Zuko

Zuko had the time of his life, eating dinner with his friends and his mother who he reunited with for the first time in years. He hadn't told his mother about his relationship with Sokka yet but he was planning on telling her when they were alone, he decided to tell her in private because he doesn't know how she'll react and he doesn't want Sokka to feel bad about himself if she doesn't take it well.

"I'm sorry to bother you during dinner Lady Ursa but the armadillo lion is going on a rampage and we don't know how much longer the cage will be able to hold him." A guard who had just approached their table asked and Zuko looked up at him with anger and disbelieve on his face.

"You put Koji in a cage?! How could you? Take me to him right now!" Zuko ordered, anger clear in his voice. The guard flinched and nodded quickly, motioning for Zuko to follow him.

"Zuko calm down it's just a cage, we're not hurting him. Why do you have an armadillo lion with you anyway? They're dangerous animals." Ursa said as she got up and followed after Zuko and the guard, Sokka, Katara, and Aang doing the same.

"It's not just a cage mom! Koji escaped from a fire nation circus because he was scared and they hurt him, you put him in a cage that is guarded by what I guess are fire nation citizens. Agni he must be terrified right now. And he's not dangerous, he's my animal guide." Zuko explained calmer than before but Sokka still heard the slight anger in his boyfriend's voice.

When they entered the same dungeons where Sokka, Katara, and Aang woke up, they heard loud and panicked growls and whines coming from one of the cages. Zuko pushed past the guard who was leading them and ran towards the cage the noise was coming from.

"Koji, calm down. It's me, Zuko, you're safe Koji, I'll protect you boy. Shhhhh it's okay, I'm here and nobody is going to hurt us." Zuko said as he slowly got closer to the cage and when Zuko started talking Koji's eyes snapped towards Zuko and the armadillo lion slowly calmed down. Sokka noticed how Zuko said nobody would hurt them and that's when Sokka realizes the animal guide wasn't just worried about his own safety but also about Zuko's safety.

"Open the cage!" Zuko ordered the guard who was the closest, Koji had stopped growling and whining but had started banging against the cage. The guard looked over at Ursa who gave him a nod in confirmation and then carefully moved towards the cage and opens it quickly. The armadillo lion quickly ran out of the cage and leaped on top of Zuko, making the young avatar crash to the floor where Koji kept sniffing him and checking him for injuries. When Koji was sure Zuko wasn't harmed in any way he gave him a quick lick across his face and got of him, sitting protectively in front of Zuko as he got up.

"Could you please let Appa and Momo out of their cages as well? oh and Ren too please." Aang asked carefully hoping that Koji's actions hadn't scared Ursa too much, the Airbender didn't like seeing any animals caged but it was so much worse when it was his own animals. Ursa gave a quick nod to the guard who carefully opened the other three cages, scared he'd get attacked by one of them. 

"It's getting late, let me show you to your rooms. The bison won fit I'm afraid but I'll make sure we'll take good care of him, follow me please." Ursa said when she was sure none of the animals would attack her or any of her people. She made her way towards the room where Zuko had woken up earlier that day, with the kids and animals in tow.

"Would the four of you be okay with sharing the same room? lately, we had a lot of new people join us so we have very little space left." Ursa said as they arrived at the door from 'Zuko's' room.

"That's fine, wee been traveling together for a while. Thank you Lady Ursa" Katara replied with a respectful bow, she opened the door and walked inside with Momo on her shoulder. Aang gives Ursa a quick bow and follows Katara inside with a happy smile on his face.

"would you mind walking with me for a while Zuko?" Ursa asked before Zuko had entered the room, he looked back at Sokka who gave him a reassuring nod as he carefully takes Ren from Zuko's arms and closes the door behind him.

"Is there something you wanted to talk about?" Zuko asked as his mother held out her arm and Zuko hooked his arm through hers and they started to walk, Koji following just a few steps behind them. Ursa gave him a small smile as she nodded her head yes.

"Yes, I have something very important to tell you, Zuko. One hundred years ago, Fire Lord Sozin used a powerful comet to begin the War. He and his firebending army harnessed its incredible power, and dealt a deadly first strike against the other nations." Ursa said as they kept moving through the hall, looking at Zuko as she did so.

"So the comet made them stronger?" Zuko asks wondering why he hasn't learned about this comet back home, it seems pretty important.

"Yes. Stronger than you could even imagine." Ursa confirms with a sigh, she knew she had to tell him this but she didn't want to scare her son.

"But that happened a hundred years ago. What does the comet have to do with the War now?" Zuko asks his mother, trying not to show her his worries.

"Listen carefully. Sozin's Comet will return by the end of the summer, and your father will use its power to finish the War, once and for all. If he succeeds, even the Avatar won't be able to restore balance to the world. Zuko, you must defeat the Fire Lord, before the comet arrives." Ursa explained with hurt in her eyes, she just told her son he has to fight maybe even kill his own father.

"But I've just started airbending! Not to mention water and earth!" Zuko said in worry, there was no way he could beat the Fire Lord.

"Mastering the elements takes years of discipline and practice. But if the world is to survive, you must do it by summer's end. I know you can do it, Zuko, for you have done it before. I am happy I found you Zuko but we both know you have to get to the Northern water tribe so you can start learning waterbending, tomorrow morning you and your friends will leave." Ursa told her hand as she stopped in front of a door, she gives him a quick kiss on his head and heads inside, leaving Zuko and Koji alone.

When Zuko and Koji entered their bedroom he looked worried, it was clear something was worrying the young avatar when he started pacing around the room, and Sokka, Katara, and Aang wanted to know what it was.

"Would you sit down? What's bugging you all of the sudden anyway?" Sokka asks as he wraps his arm around his boyfriend's shoulder and guides him over to the bed where he makes him sit down.

"It's what my mother said. I'm supposed to master all four elements before some comet that makes firebenders crazy powerful arrives." Zuko explains and all three of them look at him in disbelieve.

"Well, let's see. You pretty much mastered firebending and that only took you sixteen. I'm sure you can master three more elements by next summer." Sokka said, trying to cheer his boyfriend up, not noticing he is doing the exact opposite by the way he worded it. 

"I'm still learning airbending and we're still weeks away from the North Pole. What am I gonna do?" Zuko rambles, not even acknowledging Sokka's attempt to calm him down. Sokka decided to start rubbing comforting circles in the palm of Zuko's hand when he sits next to him, this seems to help and he feels Zuko relax a bit.

"You're doing really good with airbending, I'm sure you'll have mastered it by the time we arrive at the North Pole." Aang told Zuko with pride in his voice, he knew for sure that his best friend could do this.

"Yeah and remember when I taught you a little bit of waterbending? You picked it up so quick I am sure it won't take you long to master it once we get to the Northpole." Katara says, picking up that Aang's reassurance seemed to work.

"Mom told me we have to leave tomorrow morning, I guess we have no time to lose if we're gonna do this." Zuko said with a small smirk, his friends were right, he had to at least try to do this.

"Then let's get a good night's sleep before we take off because let's not forget Zhao is still chasing us and he won't make it easy for us. Remember you're no longer alone Zuko, we will be there every step of the way." Sokka said as he pulled Zuko in a tight hug, Aang soon followed and Katara completed the group hug.

The next morning Zuko had changed from his fire nation clothes back into the water tribe clothes he'd borrowed from Sokka and his boyfriend had taken it upon himself to pull the top part of the firebender's hair back and tying it into a wolfs tail.

"You know, I really like it when you wear my clothes." Sokka admits when he is done with Zuko's hair, giving his boyfriend a small peck on the lips. Katara and Aang had left the room a while back to get Appa ready so the two of them had used their time alone to make up for missed touches and kisses from the night before.

"I'm sure you do. Come on I wanna say goodbye to my mom before we leave" Zuko says with a smirk as he gets up and laces their fingers together, pulling Sokka out of the room with him. They made their way to the canteen type of room from the day before where they spotted Katara and Aang sitting at a table eating breakfast, they made their way over and sat down next to them.

"Appa is ready, we leave after breakfast." Aang said with a smile as he noticed Zuko was much happier than the previous evening, he was happy his friend was feeling better.

"I send word to your uncle with a messenger hawk, I let him know where you are and that you're doing good. I also told him to contact me if either of you needs help." Ursa said as she walked up to the group of friends and sat down at their table, she notices Zuko and Sokka's hands laced together and shoots them a small smile.

"I'm happy for you." She says softly as she motions towards their hands, Zuko looks at her and blushes lightly before mumbling a small 'thank you'.

After breakfast, Ursa walked with them towards Appa and watched as Katara and Aang got in the saddle with Momo following after them. Sokka helped Koji get in while also trying to control Ren who was flapping happily with his wings in Koji's saddle.

"I'm gonna miss you Zuko, I hope we'll meet again soon." Ursa said as she looked at her son, she was so happy that after all those years he was still the kind loving boy she left behind.

"I'll miss you too mom." Zuko said softly as he tried to blink the tears away, not wanting his mother to see him cry.

"I know you're gonna do amazing Zuko, don't worry too much about what the future holds. be careful." Ursa said as she pulled her son in one final hug, he hugged her back tightly and when he let go he got into Appa's saddle.

"Goodbye mom, I love you"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody, sorry for the long wait. I got diagnosed with social anxiety and decided to really focus on therapy so thatś why itś been a while but I am back now.
> 
> as you can see not all episodes from the show will happen in this book so I want you all to let me know which episodes from book 1: Water you really want to see in this story and I'll try to use as many of your favorites as I can.
> 
> I hope you all liked this chapter and would like to hear your thought.
> 
> thank you so much for reading.


	18. author's note ~ will delete later

Hey guys,

I know it has been a long time since I have uploaded a new chapter and I am sorry that this is not a new chapter but just me rambling. Live has been kinda hard the past months due to multiple deaths in the family, covid, finding out I'm going to be an aunt, and my mental health. 

I just wanted to let you all know that I really try to write whenever I am capable to do so and the next chapter is almost done but I don't know how long it takes for me to finish it, just know that even if it has been a while since the last chapter has been uploaded that this story is not abandoned and I will do everything I can to finish it.

I had a pretty big mental breakdown and felt so guilty when I saw that the last chapter was posted on 15 November 2020 so I really needed to let you know why I have been absent and why I have not been uploading much.

I am sorry if I disappointed you if you thought this was a new chapter but I really wanted to let you know where I've been and what's going on.

I hope you all still enjoy my story and I hope to update soon.


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